


Dark Majic Journey

by Lumenhour



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV), Once Upon a Time in Wonderland (TV)
Genre: Battle, Camelot, Excalibur, Ghost Sex, Jolly Roger - Freeform, Magic, Multi, Sacrifice, Suicide, Teenagers, hero - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-11
Updated: 2018-03-16
Packaged: 2019-03-30 02:09:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 17
Words: 90,183
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13940304
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lumenhour/pseuds/Lumenhour
Summary: What if there could only be ONE Dark One at a time? Our story begins in the bright open woods outside Camelot, a part of the Enchanted Forest of Fairy Tale Land. It's the beginning of Once Upon a Time's Season 5. I hope you like my take on that season.





	1. Her Whole World

Preface

King Arthur had shown his true colors to the heroes of Once Upon A Time. Among them was Emma Swan, the born Savior who took on the mantel of Dark One.  
Emma Swan faced a decision. She could use a magical ember to reforge Excalibur so she could strike down all of one aspect of magic: light magic or dark magic.  
Or... she could give up the ember to save her loved ones.

 

Chapter One

Her Whole World

It was a battle to change the worlds- all the worlds ever touched by magic. Two powerful sorcerers, wielder of ancient light magic and wielder of ancient dark magic, were threatened with slavery under the grip of two power-hungry enemies. It was a battle at twilight in a clearing in the woods outside Camelot, where the vines and trees themselves obeyed the orders of Zelena the witch and Arthur, the once and future king. They were choking the dark sorceress's loved ones to force her hand. Emma Swan's family and friends were hostages, and the ransom was too great.

At the same time the light sorcerer, Merlin, was in a stranglehold of magic, torn by two opposing impulses- the will imposed upon him, to kill the hostages one by one, at Zelena and Arthur's command, and his own will to stop the battle. The will of the light sorcerer was strengthened by magic bestowed upon him a millennia ago, by the Holy Grail left by the gods—still, he was weakened by his recent imprisonment, hundreds of years imprisoned in the form of a tree.

The thin, toned light sorcerer, both youthful and pensive due to his magic, squinted with the pain of resistance. He commanded the roots of the trees of the Caledonian forest to hold down the dark sorcerer's mother, Snow White, her father, Prince Charming, her beau, Captain 'Hook' Jones, her friend, Robin Hood, and her friend and co-parent, Regina the formerly evil queen. The dark sorceress was just a woman named Emma who had discovered her abilities midlife and then had dark magic thrust upon her. She longed to free them all, but she had sworn off using her dark magic, time and time again. She was conflicted and confused, having traveled between realms in the last few years, experiencing more than she ever thought possible when growing up an abandoned child in the Land Without Magic. Emma clutched a box that her enemies desperately wanted & would kill to get, for they thought it held the sacred Promethean flame that could forge Excalibur back together.

Merlin, once a mortal slave who had escaped and stumbled upon powerful light magic, never thought it possible that he would experience this again. Slavery. Slavery under Zelena's spell was worse than what he'd known as a mortal over a thousand years ago, because her will invaded his very soul. He'd tried to prevent the possibility of ever being a slave again by imbuing his sorcerer's hat with such power that the wearer would be free of tethering spells. Where was that hat now?

Now, he doubled over with the effort to resist strangling Snow White with forest vines, as Zelena shouted, "Say goodbye to mummy, Emma! -Unless you hand over that flame you've ignited- or the Dark One Dagger! Either will do, dear, you'll be mine either way!"

Everything was about to change, with the perversion of Merlin's magic to serve Zelena's unquenchable thirst for magical supremacy and King Arthur's obsessive need to rebuild Camelot-and make all other kingdoms bow to it. Emma Swan was about to change. She had bore the burden of the Dark One for six weeks and after much soul-searching, she was ready to leave dark magic behind- that had been the only way to ignite the Promethean flame again! But now, her drive to protect her family was too strong!

"Wait!" Emma called out, and tossed the small stone box to Zelena. The wicked witch fumbled- the box fell- she and Arthur took their focus off Merlin for a second, and Merlin was able to right himself and loosen the hold on Emma's friends and family. It was just enough for Captain Hook to wriggle and cut loose the roots and vines 'round him - the villains didn't know that the hook that substituted for one hand was still imbued with magic and could cut some magical bonds. They didn't know that as they knelt over the stone box, and sought an enchanted flame from an ancient ember from the world's original fire, the heroes were being quickly cut loose, and the cuff that was restraining the magical powers of Regina during this hostage crisis was removed.

They also didn't know that Emma had filled the box with oily serpentine strands that would leap out and trap whoever opened it- her last act of dark magic. Zelena screamed as these strands poured out of the box endlessly, binding her and gagging her.

Arthur took from her the broken blade of Excalibur in a hurry. "Do something!" Arthur yelled at Merlin, panicking. Zelena's spell had tethered Merlin and his magic to this half of the blade so he had to obey, just as Merlin had long ago used a spell to tether the Dark One's magic to the other half of the blade, an improvised dagger. Merlin looked about him-the six friends he had made in the last couple of weeks were now ready to fight, and strengthened by this hope, he pointed at Zelena to help her untangle- as slowly as possible. His friends were circling Arthur. Arthur impulsively rushed at Prince Charming, swung Excalibur at him and Captain Hook- just missed- then thrust the broken sword towards Regina. Even without its tip, it was more than deadly sharp.

The regal brunette woman pushed him and his half-sword aside with a magical flick of her gilded crimson sleeve. She was not about to be taken aback by a man's sudden attack ever again. The last time a knight of the round table came at her with a sword, she was not quick enough to react, and her boyfriend, Robin Hood, had stepped in front of her to protect her from mortal danger. He had died for her then, had been miraculously brought back to life, and she swore that Robin would never have to do that again.

Arthur stumbled backwards with the force of Regina's will and fell, almost landing on his sword. "You're outnumbered, your majesty," Regina said. "Give up."

The splat of blood falling on the forest floor was all that Emma, the Dark One, could hear. Blood spurted out from Captain Hook's neck where Excalibur had grazed him- his open wound seemed to grow- the pitter-patter of dark red droplets were all Emma could focus on. This was the battle to change the worlds, and it was not the fall of the enemies that did it. This man's gasping last breaths from his sliced neck would change everything for her, and she would turn reality upside down to save her lover.

Emma rushed towards her love and caught him, then transported the two of them somewhere safe. In a blink they were lying among the soft grasses and chives of a familiar meadow, where Middlemist roses had been growing all the centuries that Merlin lived here. Emma tried to remember how to heal his wounds with light magic, but nothing happened. "Killian Jones, I won't lose you," she whispered. Somehow she knew, at the back of her mind, that a cut from Excalibur could not be mended. The blade could cut spirit from soul, immortals from their immortality.

"Let me go, Emma," Killian managed to say, looking up into her blue green eyes as his vision softened and dimmed. It was that time of night when the gnats and mosquitos rose up from the grasses, and flies were finding his wound, as well.

The dark sorceress sobbed, "What about our future together?" His promise of a house by the sea, a future with her back in the quiet town of Storybrooke, was what had motivated her to rid the world of Dark One magic yesterday. Yesterday his kiss had helped her ignite a magical ember to create a flame strong enough to weld the fated sword back together and destroy all dark magic. Today she was about to watch her boyfriend die with flies buzzing about, and risk failing to destroy dark magic, which could mean an eternity she'd live alone. "I won't be able to meet you there, in the afterlife."

She pressed the hem of her robe against his wound- nothing would stop the bleeding. She fumbled through her pockets for magical items that would help, and just found the stone box that held the real Promethean flame, and the Dark One dagger.

Swiftly Emma pressed the handle of the dagger into Killian's sweating palm. She leaned over him so he could see more than just her silhouette in the fading light. She clenched her hand around his so he would hold the dagger up at an angle, pointed at her heart.

"No- no- don't make me- I have already lived- 200 years, with darkness in my heart. With you, I- had just started to - Emma! Don't make me go back into darkness!" He pleaded with her through the bubbling blood in his mouth.

"Trust me," she whispered, "I was prophesied… to be the one who can wield this dagger for good. I am the Dark One who it was said, can wield light magic as well. Trust me, and I'll help guide you to the good… even if it has to be from beyond..."

Back in the Caledonian forest, the great and powerful Merlin could hold back his powers no longer, and the tall, tortured sorcerer snapped back into servitude. Regina and her friends did not stick around to face him. She transported Robin Hood, Snow White, Prince Charming and herself back to the diner in the woods that had been their home base for weeks. Granny and Regina's adopted son, Henry, were safe. "Merlin's under a spell, he's working for Arthur- and Zelena broke free!" Robin updated Henry.

"Where's Emma? And the pirate?" Regina asked. "My sister made it clear that they want to control Emma in the same way they're controlling Merlin, and not rejoin Excalibur to get rid of dark magic!"

Henry scratched his head. "They didn't come here- I don't know!"

The sun was setting behind the trees, as Emma lay atop her boyfriend in a low meadow known only to them. He had almost lost consciousness, but passing her immortality on to him could still save him. Killian grimaced, helpless to stop his limp hand from being guided to stab her with the only weapon that could kill the Dark One and transfer her powers to himself. Her last words in his ear were, "You'll see, this is the only way we can be together…"

All was black and silent for Killian. Then he felt a rush of wind past his head and all over his body. He was wrought with pain- all the hateful memories of his life flashed before his eyes. He had never avenged Milah's death, which was his only goal in his artificially extended life. Milah- and Emma- both women he had truly loved, both killed by a Dark One! He howled blindly as he felt himself transform, and then begin to breathe and hear and see again. He had been transported to the source of dark magic, and it bubbled and swirled around him until he was lifted up from it, out of the Dark One vault. Killian peered out at the world from behind a heavy hood, for suddenly he was wrapped in a tattered, thick old robe and scarf. He stood atop a metal trap door on top of a hill, feeling his neck- it was whole again- and his left arm- still a stub at the end. Curiously, he waved his right hand over it, feeling the urge to be whole... His left hand grew back!

"Magic!" he started. He'd never felt so alive, in awe of the power that came from his mere thoughts! "Magic…" he repeated to himself with growing fear. It would always come with a price. The universe would enact some terrible price upon him for every act of magic, which he couldn't predict! He nervously felt for the dagger, which was snug in his belt. He realized that now he was the Dark One, the thing he'd hated almost all his life! He screamed up at the stars that were beginning to shine.

Squinty eyes peered at him from behind a nearby tree. "Yes,  _magic_ ," came a cold, old voice. "And it's all yours, forever, as long as you hold the dagger." It was his arch enemy, Rumpelstiltskin, glaring at him from behind his wavy, greasy hair, folding his glittering, scaly arms over his vested chest.

"You! Why are you here to torment me?" Killian yelled, lunging at him.

"You know why," Rumpelstiltskin said, appearing easily behind Killian in time to avoid his lunge. "I'm part of the spirit of all Dark Ones past, and I'm here to help you. You need me, you need the voices in ye head, much as ye may hate me."

The former pirate whirled around. "I don't need YOUR help with magic!"

"Suit yourself," said the cold, shrill voice, and the vision of Rumpelstiltskin turned into a vision of a towering centaur with hooves stomping, brown fur matted. His tough, grizzled human face leaned over Killian's. "You would rather listen to Korsen Thesh?" he growled. "You want your revenge? -On that apparition? Or on the man he was? Both can be yours, and in time, you'll seek me out- to use magic to get your revenge!"

Then the vision of the grumbling centaur was gone. A ways down the hill, Killian saw a slender woman appear out of nowhere, looking about in confusion. She had bleached blonde hair in a tight braid draped across her shoulder, a short black woolen dress that flared out at the bottom, attached to a black woolen cape, and black boots of soft leather that were laced up her legs. Killian ran down to her, with two hands open to grasp hers. It was a vision of Emma, solidly transformed into a cold, squinting Dark One, and no longer wavering in the shades of gray like the reluctant new immortal he'd come to know in the past few weeks. Gone were her soft gray oversized robe and her flowing, wavy light yellow hair. This vision did not hold his hands, but stared at her own, for they did not feel real. "I'm not here," she said. "I'm here,  _and_  I'm... in the afterlife." She walked in a circle, distractedly looking all around her.

The cold night wind ruffled his hair without chilling him; Emma's hair and cape were not moved.

Then he collapsed with dry heaving sobs- no tears would come. "Oh, Emma…" Killian instinctively wanted to go tell her family and console them. Without trying, he zapped himself to where they were.

He was outside the diner that had been whisked to Camelot's border from the magical little hamlet of Storybrooke, as part of their mission to find Emma and rid her of the darkness. Now she was rid of it, in a way…

A figure appeared between him and the door. His scales shone in the light of the lantern that hung from Granny's diner; his face was in shadow. "You really think her family will be understanding? And they won't try to kill you for what you did?" the vision asked in a tight voice. "You best secure the dagger before you worry about them."

"Crocodile…" Captain Hook grumbled dismissively- making for the door, he walked right through him. With a thought, he turned his clumsy robe into the long black captain's jacket that he had been wearing on the battlefield, and hid his left hand in his jacket pocket as he entered.

The battlefield in the woods was all but empty. Zelena finally wriggled free of the strands that constantly leapt up and around her, with her magic and Merlin's. "Why didn't you just cut me free-?" she yelled at Arthur.

"With this? It could have killed you!" Arthur said, sheathing Excalibur. He had no intention of killing Zelena, but he knew that their interests would only align for so long. While she was bound head to toe, he had searched the forest floor for the magic-binding cuff that the heroes left behind, so that one day, while she slept, the Wicked Witch of the West could be trapped by it again. Then she would have to make another deal with Arthur, should he require anything of her considerable magical abilities, in order to get it off.

Zelena straightened her dress full of sparkling black points and donned her pointed hat again. "My sister and her friends fled, how heroic," she said dryly. "And if Emma took off with her boyfriend, we can still use him, to get the dagger! Let's find her!"

With a nod from Arthur, a stoic Merlin transported them to a faraway hillside that overlooked a wooded valley.

"There's no one here!" Zelena exclaimed. There was just a clearing with a circular platform that she had visited before. "This is the Dark One vault, from whence the dark magic comes… That's not what I meant, you- ancient idiot! You're being cheeky, you're stalling!"

"What exactly is your plan?" Merlin interrupted her with a serious tone. Stalling was exactly what he intended. "Enslaving Emma, by holding the Dark One dagger? Or using that box of fire to mend Excalibur, and kill her?"

"Well- wouldn't that remove all dark magic from the world?" Arthur reasoned. If he could accomplish that, he would be the ultimate hero.

"Tsk, dark magic is everywhere," Zelena chided him. "It would just remove this particular source of dark magic. Soon we'll own and control the strongest light magic AND the strongest dark magic- we could do anything-"

"Well I suppose you want the blade that controls the dark magic?" Arthur asked.

"Don't you know that his light magic is stronger?"

"That's debatable, your majesty," Zelena said snidely. "But yes, I'll control the Dark One and play the villain, so you can continue playing off of me, and shine bright as the hero."

Arthur jumped in, "We'll have all the power to heal and protect- or torture and destroy!"

"And once I've gotten all I want,  _then_  we can go ahead and reforge your precious sword… and strike out one source of- a particular kind of magic… forever…" Zelena rubbed her gloved hands together, lost in her thoughts.

"I made that sword. Does your plan involve asking me if this is going to work? Do you really think there can be light without darkness, or the other way around?" Merlin asked, not knowing the answer himself.

Zelena conjured forth a lantern for herself and Arthur. "Just take us to Emma!"

Merlin stared at the closed metal trap door engraved with symbols.

Back at Granny's Diner, no one could believe Killian Jones' profession that Emma had killed herself with the Dark One dagger, so he offered to show them. Regina transported him, herself, Snow White and Prince Charming to the meadow he told her about, where he had taken Emma horseback riding to get her mind off being the Dark One.

Regina held up a lantern and her jaw dropped at what she saw. Snow White doubled over in agony, screaming. "NO- no!" Charming cried. Emma's body lay face down in the grass. She had died on top of him as he died, like Romeo and Juliet, each of them from different parts of the same blade. Charming rushed to the body and gently turned Emma on her side, revealing her hand that still clutched the dagger, drenched in the blood that had poured from her heart.

"What- wait, what? No, it can't be!" Regina struggled to hold onto reason, even as she felt herself sinking into panic and despair. Her friend would never commit suicide to escape her life, or the fight for control of the Dark One.

Regina grabbed the collar of Snow's stiff, royal dress, righting her and leaning in close to stop the screaming. Regina reasoned, "She wouldn't- and- if she really killed herself, why is her body- still here?" Snow's face was hot with tears, and over her hyperventilating, she could barely hear Regina whisper harshly, "Remember when Gold had killed himself! When he was the Dark One, and we all saw him kill both Peter Pan and himself at the same time- to save Storybrooke! There was no body! When a Dark One uses the dagger on his self- remember! The body disappears! It goes back to the source of darkness, in this realm!"

"What are you saying?" Snow sobbed.

Charming stepped back from the body. "Are you saying this just isn't what a suicide would… look like… for a Dark One? Hook! What really happened?"

The old pirate was at a loss for words. "She made me-" He shook his head as Emma's family stared at him wide-eyed. His focus was on the dagger- and then, so was theirs.

Killian felt a ghost materialize behind him. "Hurry! Don't let them get it- and control you!" she urged him. Killian kneeled, swiftly yanking the knife from the body and letting yet more blood flow.  _Killian Jones_  was clearly engraved on its side. They saw it in the lantern light and gasped—they would never accept what happened. With a last look of regret upon Emma Swan's still face, Killian transported himself back to the shadows of the trees around the Dark One vault.

Killian concentrated on the platform and its sealed door, willing himself to go back into the slimy embrace of sentient dark magic that lived down there. If only he could hide for the rest of the long, long life he was doomed to.

"Back up- hide!" whispered Emma's ghost. Zelena, Arthur and Merlin were weaving in between the clearing and tree lines, looking for something in the dark.

The embodiment of Rumpelstiltskin was suddenly behind Killian's other shoulder. "They'll have the Sorcerer fight you. They won't stop until they get the dagger from you. What are you going to do about it?" he said.

Killian crouched down, watching from the brush with growing agitation and fear.

"Really, you could do everyone a favor and get rid of them," Emma's ghost said in a slow, low voice. " _Now_ , before they round up hostages again, to make you hand over the dagger."

"Ah, but we've tried killing her," said the impish voice of Rumpelstiltskin. "It didn't work. She was sustained by her magic and only appeared to die. We must do something more than  _kill_ _her_ …"

With the force of a splitting headache, Killian recalled memories from the lifetime of a previous Dark One, when the Dark One had approached Zelena, unarmed and defenseless, in her jail cell in Storybrooke. He was avenging the death of someone Rumpelstiltskin, Emma, and Hook had all cared about- it wasn't the reasons for the murder that bothered him, it was its ineffectiveness! He had cornered her, stabbed her, watched her crumble to the ground- and still, she hadn't really died! Killian put his hands to his temples, disgusted at the state he was in, with the life of his mortal enemy in his head.

"Remove their memories," Emma's ghostly voice chimed in. "I will show you how. They mustn't know anything about the dagger- and then they won't be able to seek power in this way."

"Yes," Rumpelstiltskin hissed, "first remove enough of their memories… to obliterate their sense of self…  _then_  kill them. Zelena will not be able to seek out the Dark Ones' knowledge and power, even in the afterlife!"

Killian saw no other choice. He stretched out his hand towards the witch and king- it was shaking with the effort of imposing his will that their memories be erased. His focus wasn't clear enough.

Arthur called out, "Merlin, are you sure- I mean- I command thee- sense Emma Swan's magic and find her!"

"She's here somewhere," Merlin insisted, in a somber tone.

Zelena jogged over to Arthur and put her hand on the hilt of his sword. "More to the point, Merlin," she called, "sense and locate the Dark One's dagger!"

The sorcerer turned slowly towards Killian in the shadows.

"Quick!" Emma whispered to the new Dark One, and Killian was transported to the belfry high in one of Camelot's towers, where Emma had spent many a sleepless night while she was the Dark One. Dozens of different dream catchers dangled from the light fixture and rafters. The thrumming of Killian's headache grew louder, steadier, as he looked up at all the hoops woven with sinew. Killian took one of the individually crafted dream catchers from Emma's bony, pale hand, which was just as real and material as he could will her to be. "This is very dark magic," she said, "as you can not only see others' dreams and memories in this, but also remove them from their heads…"


	2. The Sword in the Stone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Will Killian pass Merlin's test?

Chapter Two

The Sword In the Stone

Zelena and King Arthur impatiently pressed their new slave, Merlin, to get him to reveal where the Dark One's dagger was. Merlin, a tall, dark, clean-shaven man with youth preserved by magic, had the wisdom of hundreds of years of good deeds- and he could sense a change in the world ever since he brought them to the Dark One's vault. They stood outside the foreboding locked trap door, and brainstormed.

Merlin could sense where magical things and people were, if he focused, and he could even see pieces of the future. But at every command from those who held the sword to which he was ethereally tethered, he resisted as long as he could. Suddenly he noticed a blank look in his captors' eyes. They seemed bewildered. Merlin stepped toward Arthur eagerly as his grip on Excalibur loosened for a moment, and, with a breath of relief, Merlin sidestepped behind him and deftly snatched the sword from his grasp. He quickly took a certain magic-binding cuff from its hiding place in Arthur's armor.

"What- where am I? Who are you?" Arthur stammered. "Hey, I had that!"

"Patience, sir, I am just a travelling merchant, but I'll appraise this for you," Merlin said confidently, and unsheathed the sword slightly. "I can tell you this artifact here is worth a good 200 gold. The bracelet, Madame, completely worthless." Merlin nodded to Zelena as she noticed a leather bracelet on her wrist again- a shackle for her magic.

"Give that back!" Arthur ran after Merlin, who easily got ahead of him on the trail to Camelot and then, in a flash, used magic to transport himself up to a starlit room at the top of a tower. He fulfilled the last command they gave him, and located the Dark One and his dagger.

"I ought to thank you, Dark One," Merlin said, and Killian Jones lowered a dream catcher, slowly turning to see his visitor. "Though my soul is tethered, now I am free of the king and his insane sidekick."

"Thank me by not interrupting my work!" Killian said, shocked that anyone would find him here and know... "You know what I am? Somehow you're the only one. And soon... everyone will forget everything else too. I know now... I know how to destroy them all, take away who they are, not just the recent things they learned since we got to Camelot."

Merlin raised an eyebrow. Emma appeared to both of them, crouching on a window ledge like a gargoyle. In her low, unemotional voice, she pleaded, "Now that's going too far. Don't erase ALL of my family's memories. I know, they don't trust you, but- you needn't take away their good memories of us. Just-"

Killian, engrossed in getting down all the dream catchers, said to himself, "It's better this way. Everyone here has to forget that there ever was a Dark One. They must not go looking for the Dark One. Especially if they fancy themselves heroes, they must not know there is an evil to defeat..."

Merlin interrupted, "It doesn't have to be this way. There is more important work that calls you, Dark One. You can still have this lifted from you, be the hero that rids the realms of darkness, and then there's no reason to hide anything."

Killian paused. With that, Merlin transported them both to the hill overlooking the Caledonian forest, where the altar of the original fire still stood. Moonrise allowed Killian to see Merlin jump atop a nearby boulder and thrust his half of Excalibur down into the rock, where it would stay so no one could control him. "Someday you may decide to fuse the two blades for good, not evil," Merlin told him, and gestured for him to go on inspecting the altar. A small fire pit was atop the stone platform- no fire had been there for centuries.

"How?" Killian wondered. "Where is the flame that Emma ignited from the last ember from this fire pit- and wasn't that the original fire, the first fire ever given to man, by a god? How am I to-"

A hooded figure approached with long, confident strides. "That flame- that was quite impressive," she said. "It went with Emma into the darkness when she died. I have it now. If a Dark One is to hold that ember again- you'll have to go through me." The vision of a shadowy figure threw back her hood, allowing Merlin and Killian to see her mean, blue-green, scaly visage.

"Nimue," Merlin nodded respectfully. It was she who had once drank from the same Holy Grail as he, had been blessed with the same magical powers and immortality as he, and then chose to use her magic to murder, becoming the first Dark One. Merlin watched her circle the altar, following Killian, and could scarcely picture her as the young woman he had once known and loved.

When he had met Nimue, he tried to help her get over the decimation of her village by a bloodthirsty villain. He proposed to her with the hopes that they could live normal, mortal lives together, start a family- and grow old together, naturally, not outlive their children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren. He had melted the Grail into Excalibur for them. For them to age gracefully. For her smooth hands to roughen with years of tending flowerbeds ahead. For the smell of her hair, and the earth in the creases in her hands after weeding. For them to learn to take care of each other.

Now Nimue, his betrothed, was stalking the new Dark One, looking him up and down. The wan, weary vision of Emma appeared atop the altar, sitting on her legs, looking on.

"Do you really want to be rid of your darkness?" Nimue mused, suddenly right behind Killian, speaking into his ear. "Do you really believe in a future without Emma, without even the Dark Vision of Emma, and without the stay on your aging that you maintained for so long? Without immortality? A future -for you to finally grow old and die, like everyone else, and die alone?"

Killian looked up at his love's sad face, desperately. What could he say? What future did she want him to plan on?

"No… you don't…believe..." Nimue whispered, as Killian stared at Emma's silent ghost with old, tired, wary eyes. Cutting off his immortal ties, with the sword, reunited, would kill him. Whether by opening his flesh wound - or by leaving him to old age. Nimue reached out a scaly finger, and traced the line of the would-be scar on his neck. "You shouldn't have stuck your neck out for her, pirate. Now you'll likely die, without Dark One magic… and do you really think you'll go to the same place as her, when you die?"

"I am far from… ready to leave the darkness behind," he admitted in a small voice.

Nimue then leapt towards Merlin, grabbed his throat, and lifted him up—when Killian looked closely at the hands 'round his throat—he saw they were  _his_ hands!

Emma jumped down from the altar, grabbed Killian's outstretched arms and broke the hold. She threw a punch that separated Nimue from Killian and then swung her leather booted foot low, knocking Nimue to the ground. Killian felt the urge to tackle Merlin just as Nimue shot up and tackled Emma, her robe flying up behind her. But the new Dark One stopped himself, just inches from the great sorcerer.

"You can do this!" Merlin said, gasping. "Resist her, pass the test, and you'll be able to finish what Emma was trying to accomplish before she died. Finish the last, greatest work of her life."

"Her work was… bringing back the happy endings," Killian mumbled as he struggled to recall their comparatively idyllic life in Storybrooke.

Merlin insisted, "Greater even than that- her work was to extinguish the Dark One magic!"

"Not in this lifetime!" Nimue laughed as she picked Emma up by the neck and the knee, then threw her down. Killian felt the force of his own body throwing Merlin's, in a mirror move. Nimue cruelly body slammed Emma, then rolled atop her. She went on, "Not in Killian Jones' lifetime either. The world isn't ready to lose dark magic! And neither is he." Nimue held Emma's arms behind her back and yanked her up so she could see her boyfriend holding Merlin's arms the same way.

At once, Merlin and Emma ducked and used the momentum of their attackers to flip them over their backs. Killian and Nimue slid down the hillside a bit before these two sorcerers hanging onto darkness sped up towards the two striving for light. Plowing into Merlin, Killian lost control and wailed on him with a hundred punches on each side. It had been so long- since he could do this, with both hands! He looked over at Nimue, aghast to see her beating Emma in just the same way! But Killian couldn't tell if he was causing this, and he couldn't stop!

How was she able to keep striking Emma, who had beaten her, up on this hill, just a couple days before? He saw Nimue thrust her open hand down into Emma's chest, using magic to reach in and grasp her heart. Then he felt his own right hand warmed by Merlin's chest cavity, with shock and horror- his fingers grasped a slippery organ that convulsed in terror. He held a rapidly beating heart! He was overwhelmed by the power he had! It was such a rush, compared to the times he had stolen hearts with his metal hook.

"Take it, and you'll never have to put up with him telling you what to do," Nimue said forcefully, invigorated by what she saw. She could not yank a heart from Emma's spirit, but she could watch her new host crush the heart of her long ago lover. He had been weak. A coward. Unwilling to defend her when her enemy, Vortigan, had attacked. Unwilling to let her embrace magic and immortality, too. He deserved everything he got.

Killian stood and ripped the living heart out, staring at it in amazement. "Magic… is power," he said to himself softly.

Emma pushed Nimue off of her, got up painfully and pleaded with him. "Merlin… is right," she said weakly. "You can still… make my death… not in vain." She leaned against him, exhausted. "Just believe- our future together could be-taking all the Dark One magic with us, in death… Or, we could go on as we are now… I will love you either way." Emma let out a pained sigh as she collapsed into Killian, trying to hug him. His look softened, so touched. When he was a double-crossing, murdering pirate, she had loved him-and when he was trying to fit in with her family and friends and second-guessing his every action in order to be heroic like them, she had loved him. He supported her beaten figure leaned up against him.

"Ah, love, I think that taking the darkness with us to our deaths, well that can wait a bit, don't you think?" He sensed the use of magic somewhere and looked down the hillside. Emma nodded, affirming that was what the sensation meant. "We might have a funeral to attend." And with that, he handed Merlin's heart to Emma, wrapped his arms around her, and a cloud of smoke wrapped around them both. They transported away, leaving Nimue to muse over a disheartened Merlin.

Killian and Emma found themselves at a dim, somber scene outside Granny's, where the morning fog was rolling in between the trees of the forest. Snow White, Prince Charming, Regina the Queen, Robin Hood, Henry and Roland were gathered around a platform, crying. The Seven Dwarves and Granny, holding little baby Neal, stood back from it a bit. The diner in the woods glowed with lantern lights, and someone inside opened the windows so a tune playing on the jukebox could be heard: "O Danny Boy."

Everyone was just at a loss for words, wondering what to do with themselves, not knowing how to prepare for a funeral at dawn. With the help of magic Emma's body had been laid nicely in a large, dark wood coffin on the platform, that had a pattern of leaves and branches with tear-shaped gaps carved into it. The pattern, reminiscent of Snow White's glass coffin, extended into the lattice that arced over the body. Enough of her was visible through the gaps in the lattice that it was an open casket. Her stiff woolen gray robe had been cleaned and straightened. It covered her fatal wound, and her long soft blonde hair closely framed her face.

Killian looked on from back in the shadows, his hands dug into his jacket pockets. "Why, how, how did this happen?" he heard the expatriates from Storybrooke say, again and again.

"We were following King Arthur to Camelot, we were walking with Emma, then -we're back here, and she's in- a coffin!" Emma's parents repeated to each other, unable to retrace their steps.

"Someone killed her and took our memories of it," Regina was repeating to herself, through angry tears.

A subdued maiden in a long, patterned cape, Belle, came out of the diner with a tray of oatmeal and hot chocolate for Henry and Roland. "Now boys, sit down and we'll have an early breakfast. Let's go over everything we remember. That way we can help your parents to- uh-"

Henry jumped in, "Get the bad guys, who may have hurt Emma." Anger flashed in his eyes.

"One way to help Emma, Roland- I'll show you how, later-is to make her spot real pretty, we can make her some daisy rings…" Belle picked some nearby daisies and clover and started braiding them into a ring, to distract the boys who had little interest in eating.

Arthur and Zelena, who had been following the noises heard in the woods for hours, came up to the clearing as dawn broke. "What happened? Last I saw you lot you were dressed in the garb of another land. Now everyone's-Why is your friend-?" he asked.

"There is a murderer running loose!" Regina informed him sharply. "Someone with magic to match our friend, Emma's- killed her and laid her there in the time it took us to change into Camelot casual and  _forget_ …  _again_!" she growled as she leaned in towards her sister.

Zelena shook her head and said nothing. She showed Regina that she wore the cuff to bind her magic with- and her and Arthur's confusion was real. Their shock at seeing the body was sincere.

Everyone was pacing, lost in the gaps in their thoughts, as Snow White cleared her throat to bring the assembly to attention. "My daughter, our savior, has gone from this world," she began, taking a deep breath, meaning to go on about honoring her life and having hope. Instead, a guttural battle cry came out: "And her killer will pay!"

The crowd stirred and the seven dwarves shouted their agreement.

"What shall we do, love?" Killian nervously whispered to his vision of Emma. "We could… make Merlin pose as the culprit."

She held up the heart, balanced it on her cold, bony fingertips. "For you to live among others… we would need someone to blame… but we can't do  _that_  forever. He's too smart, and strong a sorcerer, for either of us. Sooner or later he would find a way to get this back. The lies...would be undone..." Normally Emma abhorred lying, but now that her beloved had come so close to death-now that she was responsible for what he'd become- protecting him was what she cared about.

They backed up from the small funeral service, and stole away into the empty diner from Storybrooke, Maine.

Inside, the jukebox loudly played a tinny record of Andres Segovia's Green Sleeves, and the vision of Rumpelstiltskin cackled in the corner. His laughs echoed about, as he transported here and there- Killian chased and lunged at the apparitions of Rumpelstiltskin fruitlessly.

"It seems you've come here for a different solution, dearie," came his voice from the kitchen, where he stood over a bubbling booya pot. "You don't really believe in ending the cycle of Dark Ones-all by ye self? And...neither… do you believe in controlling the light-" Rumpelstiltskin gestured and the glowing red heart of the greatest wielder of light magic flew from Emma's hands to his.

Killian neared the pot, which smelled of something foul and inedible. "Aye," he said." There's really only one Dark One I want to END- you! But-your body's back in the Land Without Magic."

The vision of his enemy went on, "So how about going in a different direction-towards a fresh start?"

Emma cocked her head to the side, considering. "We could have a fresh start back in Storybrooke- where no one would be able to find my body... Or Merlin's," she said darkly.

"What? What're ya saying?" Killian asked.

"I'm saying we should go back there, and make a home of that cute house you picked out in the paper. It's just. . There's not that many ways back to Storybrooke. One way, for example, a Dark Curse, does require someone's death..."

"Goody. It so happens I killed the thing I loved most, last night. Thanks for that, Emma."

Killian heard another voice- another vision had joined them. "Ah, but this Curse that could take you and everyone here anywhere you want to go- it will need a fresh sacrifice." Nimue was there, stirring the pot. "The thing I love most- even after all these years- he's a handy sacrifice, I'm glad I kept him around. And through you, Hook- I can finally crush his heart, and make that sacrifice. We Dark Ones act as one." She held Merlin's heart all of a sudden, and whispered to it a farewell.

Emma stared at the floor, feeling guilty that it had come to this. Merlin had valuable lessons and warnings for her-had ever since he'd appeared to her as a vision, when she was a child. But now she could only pass these lessons and warnings on to Killian, and guide Killian as Merlin would. That's how she could honor him.


	3. Sacrificing This World for the Next

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What world will the Dark One create?

Chapter Three

Sacrificing this World for the Next

Captain Killian Jones had never followed a spell before. He peered at a thin yellowed scroll held up before him by a vision of a Dark One past, Rumpelstiltskin, and tried to follow the ingredients list in olde English.

"We haven't much time, before that angry funeral reception comes in here," Killian muttered.

His vision of Emma Swan in a thick black dress and cape helped him by conjuring forth all the dream catchers she had made, and adding them to the makeshift cauldron one by one. Everyone's forgetfulness would protect her boyfriend, and his new identity. They couldn't know what had just happened, because it seemed her family would never accept how she died. "Casting the Dark Curse… that would bring us someplace in my world, the Land Without Magic," Emma reasoned, cautiously, "but Hook- there's no going back from this. We'll no longer have Merlin's help when we're ready to- make the sacrifice that will end the cycle of Dark Ones forever."

"That was what your life was about, not mine," Hook said, engrossed in the spell. "Mine… has been about… my revenge…"

Rumpelstiltskin shrugged and laughed coyly. "Yesssss… come get me then. Even without my old body and soul, I... will go on! I have unfinished business in Storybrooke. And power to seize, in the wider world!"

The small kitchen was suddenly full of cloaked Dark Ones past, leaning towards the tall metal pot, insisting… speaking their intentions into the spell. They spoke of power and magic to discover and exploit in Storybrooke. Hook gathered a lock of hair given from each of these, the darkest souls, and threw them in the pot. Emma was reluctant, conflicted- with a coaxing kiss, Hook got her to offer a few strands of white-blonde hair. "For us," she said.

He dropped the hair in and Nimue stepped forward with the heart of what she loved most. "You treated me better than anyone had," she said softly as she squeezed, hard. "Now that I've a host I can really use- grant me passage to the next world!" The pure, spotless heart was crushed to blood and dust, and fell into the pot, which churned and steamed and then filled the diner with smoke.

A swirling column of smoke rose up from the diner, sucking in dust and leaves, shooting up above the forest canopy. The smoke cloud took on the noise and flashing sparks of an electrical storm, and rolled over the woods and the fortified kingdom of Camelot. The curse enveloped everything, destroying the land, the history, the relics, the people and plants and animals of Camelot and the greater Enchanted Forest. A tremendous sacrifice, for passage to a different world.

Emma cupped Killian's face in her hands. "Focus," she spoke with the wisdom of all Dark Ones. "Focus on where we are going, what we are creating. Only the people and things you focus on can come with us.

"Focus."


	4. The Savior Laid to Rest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The merging of Storybrooke and Camelot...

Chapter Four

The Savior Laid to Rest

Dawn broke and sunshine spread across the sea. The waters were calm from David's perspective, sitting on a weathered wood dock. He reached over for his wife's hand. "Are you alright?"

"Where are... we…? What happened?"

Their short-term memories were as clear as the horizon. Everything from discovering Emma's body to her funeral- gone.

On a nearby dock at this unfamiliar marina, their older friend, affectionately called Granny, sat and clutched their crying baby to her chest. "How's Neal?"

"Heavier! He's- look, he's a lot bigger than - just a few moments ago!"

Everyone else who had joined their quest to Camelot rose from where they sat or lay, sore and confused. The houseboats in this marina, the street lights posted along the docks and a gravel road- it looked like they were back in the modern Land Without Magic! They wore their modern day clothes that they'd left Storybrooke in. David and his wife, Snow White, resumed their roles as de facto Sheriff and assistant Mayor in the Land Without Magic, and made an announcement about how their quest to eliminate the Dark One must have hit a magical bump in the road, but they would find a way to scour their memories, and this place, for the answers.

Lily Page and Will Scarlet shook the dizziness from their heads, and stood from the place the cyclone or curse or portal had dropped them.

"What happened?" asked Lily, the tan, disheveled dragon-woman.

"Who knows, love. We both knew going towards that magical cyclone was a long shot," said Will, ever the outcast at the edge of the crowd of fairy tale characters. "We made it to Camelot though!" They remembered nothing further than their arrival there. "I'll find out what I can, from what people are saying. I'll call you when I know something." The two exchanged phone numbers, and Will took off abruptly to weave through the crowd and get the word on the street.

Lily had thought they were close—she tried to blow off her friend's casual attitude. Anything could have happened between them, in the whirl of events that brought them back to this modern day land. She set off to rejoin her mother, Maleficent, and let her know she was OK—as far as she knew. Between a magical trip to another realm, a little forest reconnaissance around a beautiful castle, and plans to interview people of Camelot to find out about other dragons—something must have happened to bring them back here, with magic.

Captain Hook beamed at the sight of the Jolly Roger in the harbor, and, to hide his jubilation in a time of crisis, took off from the heroes to have a look around. "I did it!" he whispered to himself. Two-story storefronts with fading paint faced the lone dirt street that met the gravel road to the marina. A boating supplies store, bait shop, a ways down the road, a water treatment facility... One road led to the familiar site of Storybrooke, and past a great view of the rocky beach where Emma had said she used to spend time with her boy. Granny's diner had made it- in its new location, the patio had a great view of the harbor. There were alleys lined with parked cars- new Lincoln town cars and old, revamped Volkswagen bugs! Trucks with boat trailers in the public parking lot! There was a large wooden sign with words carved and painted that surprised Hook: 'Welcome to East Storybrooke.'

He ran back to the newly cursed crowd to catch all the conversations about where Emma might be, and what might have happened to them.

"Hook!" cried out Emma's parents. "What do you remember?"

"Ah, well, we were all walking through a forest… it was afternoon… we were following King Arthur and his knights, to a glorious castle! And… uh..." he let the Charmings conclude that no memories existed after that.

"And now we're here- wherever here is," Snow White said, looking around.

"Here-is 'East Storybrooke,'" Hook informed them, with a raised eyebrow and a grin. "I don't know if it's new… or if there was always this quaint suburb… but there's cars, I saw one of them with the keys on the seat- and a gas station just over there! Let's get our bearings, shall we?"

"Oh- uh, do any of the cars you saw have a car seat?" Snow asked, as she shifted her healthy, hefty baby in her arms.

"Hey, you have- both hands!"

Kilian checked the others' gazes, wondering how much attention he dare draw to himself. He felt hyper aware, bursting with power, trying to cautiously contain it. He could hear a conversation that was a couple groups of people away- Regina was speaking to Robin Hood, warily, about how this must be the result of a dark curse. "How else would an entirely new town spring up," she was saying, "in a different realm than where we were? I know the smell of a Dark Curse- it smells of… trite stereotypes and a fresh new start, for someone…"

Hook nervously explained, "I think Emma somehow used magic to restore my hand. I have the vaguest recollection- we were staying with the king in Camelot, and she healed people, including me." He led Mr. and Mrs. Prince Charming toward the black Lincoln he had his eye on. "I can't place what happened before or after that." He conjured up a car seat in the back before they got there.

"It makes sense that you might have more of your memories than everyone else- just like when Snow cast the Curse that recreated Storybrooke, and you escaped it, "Charming said.

Hook sat in the driver's seat as Snow fiddled with the car seat for Neal. He was working this through in his mind.

"Do you mean… you mean Emma would have used her magic to preserve some of my memories for me- but none for her family, mate?"

"I don't know. What I mean is… You're important to Emma, and just like you found her in New York… you're destined to find her."

The Charmings shared a loving look.

A man on a motorcycle drove up and met them on the road. A man that Emma had introduced Hook to, because he had been like an older brother to her, but he knew so little else about him. Was he the one who'd taught her to see through lies? Would he see through Hook's lies?

"Pinocchio!" Snow called out happily.

"Hey, you're back! And you brought a new town with you?" he looked around the one-street town and whistled in astonishment. "Pops and I heard this huge crash-trees falling, and there was a dust storm earlier-I had to come check it out." He nodded at Granny's Diner. "- Now, there's a sight for sore eyes! Boy everybody missed that place. And- you guys too. Where else can you get comfort food and booze, any time of day?"

Pinocchio took off his helmet as he parked at the diner, fully expecting to see his old friend Emma inside. He had cared for her when she was a baby, brought her to a nursery, looked in on her as she grew up, and had every intention of guiding her towards the light as they both grew and matured. Of course it hadn't really worked out that way. But he was sure they would still be friends, whether she was the reluctant hero breaking curses or the new Dark One, as one of his mentors, the Blue Fairy, said. She was still Emma.

Pinocchio walked into confusion and chaos. Regina and Henry were encouraging everyone who had been on the quest to the other realm to check under tables, in cabinets, behind clocks and picture frames, looking for something. Robin Hood was distributing cell phones, backpacks and other personal belongings, found in the back of the kitchen.

"Where's Emma?" Pinocchio asked Sneezy the dwarf. "You all have been gone 6 weeks- did you remove the Dark One curse? Or not?"

"I think Snow and Charming went to look for her," Sneezy said in his low, congested voice.

"Six weeks!" Grumpy exclaimed. "We all only remember a day! And in that day… Dark Emma gave her precious dagger to the Queen..."

"Where is it?" Regina demanded of everyone. "Where would I have hidden it?"

Pinocchio pieced it all together: The Dark One dagger controlled the Dark One. If she gave it to Regina for safekeeping, and Regina no longer had it, then someone else was controlling the Dark One-and could have forced her to magically transport them here and take all the questers' memories, so they couldn't even begin to fight back! Or, the Dark One herself had it back, and did this to hide from her family and friends, perhaps out of shame… shame from changing, and disappointing them. Or- worst of all- someone had the dagger because they'd killed Emma with it. Then there'd be a new Dark One. Pinocchio, feeling weak, sat down in a booth at this, his favorite restaurant. A booth that 13-year-old Henry happened to be searching over, trying to pry open the cushion from the seat, frustrated.

"Hey Kid," Pinocchio said, "how was your trip?"

Henry rolled his eyes and said, "It was a trip alright."

Pinocchio said, "Hey, I swear you're taller since I last saw you. And- listen, one author to another, if you search deep enough within you you'll find those stories... even the story that seems to be missing, maybe it will come back to you- in dreams. Or, if you try to write about it." Henry paused and considered. His adopted mother Regina marched over looking sharply between the two of them. She had never trusted Pinocchio ever since he had ridden into her little town originally under the pseudonym August Booth.

"Say, Mom?" Henry said, breaking the ice, "have you tried-" Regina interrupted him with gentle hands moving over his shoulders and arms.

"No, Henry," she said, "a locator spell would not work on something as powerful as the Dark One's dagger. It would surely protect itself…"

Belle overheard them talking as she gathered up her bag with her telltale bell jar, and some books that must have come with them from Camelot. She was about to leave, giving up on this fruitless team search of the diner, but interjected, "You know there is something that would quickly point out where that dagger is. I've used it before and if it works, will give us a clue as to where Emma is."

"Oh? Well, what is it?" Regina asked. Belle flushed at the sudden awkwardness of all the attention in the room on her. She walked out the front door knowing Regina would follow.

"Do you want my help?" Belle said quietly over her shoulder. "You have to at least apologize for what you did."

Regina stood on the steps and shrugged exasperatedly, "What part?" Belle turned around and looked at her sadly, holding her hand over her heart. She did not believe that Regina already forgot using her as a pawn to manipulate her husband, the former Dark One. It still stung, knowing that Regina had ripped out her heart as a little insurance for her and Emma's trip to New York. Then she'd been instructed to forget her heart being taken from her body. It had been returned to her after Regina got back from New York, for all that mattered to Regina was stopping her nemesis, Rumpelstiltskin, from interfering in her plans. Belle still didn't know the totality of what she'd been forced to do while Regina had controlled her heart.

"You came with us to Camelot-to be a hero, right?" Regina asked.

"Yeah?"

"We have something in common then. We went to find and help Emma Swan- that's what we're doing now. You and I will continue to have common goals, as long as we're both trying to do something heroic for our friends-for our family. For Henry. And we have more power and resources when we work together, wouldn't you agree?"

"That's not an apology! I'm going to just use that gauntlet without you!"

"Gauntlet?"

Pinocchio strode out of the diner, down the steps and hopped on his bike. "Say-miss? Is she bothering you? Do you want a ride into Storybrooke?"

Belle hesitated.

Regina blurted out, "I'm sorry I violated your- uh-"

Belle decisively shifted her short skirt down a bit, and hopped on the back of the motorcycle, with her bag slung across her shoulders and her arms around a stranger. "Yes, please-I'm Belle Gold."

"Pleasure. I'm August Booth." The writer and the librarian took off, back to the fairytale town and the modern roles they knew.

They passed a slow black car on the road that was driving the loop of the main street, the road out of town and the back alley behind several stores. Snow White and her Prince Charming looked about frantically as Hook, their adult daughter's boyfriend, drove 10 mph and called out her name. They didn't see any signs of activity in the buildings or parked cars, on the water, in any houseboats, or in the woods on the hill. Without the dagger, this was the best they could do to summon the Dark One they knew.

Charming hit the dashboard in frustration. "She didn't come with us! Or, she doesn't want to be found... yet..." His infant son fussed in the back seat, with Snow. "Let's go into Storybrooke -if that is the Storybrooke we know-and-ask around. We could put up missing flyers..." He tried to stifle a yawn.

They idled next to a line of weary men, women and children walking along the road, who all looked displaced in their Renaissance era outfits.

"Hey!" Prince Charming called out to them. "Hey- King Arthur! Your majesty!" He spotted someone he recognized. Hook pulled over.

"Welcome to our land!" Snow White said out the car window. "That is, the place we lived for the last 30 years anyway. You're on your way to Storybrooke-!"

King Arthur ran up to their side of the car, awkwardly, in his metal coat of arms. "What have you done? One moment, I greeted you into my kingdom, and the next moment, my people were scattered about an unfamiliar forest- and what kind of carriage is this?"

Charming explained, "We don't know why or how, but- due to some kind of magic- we were all transported here, with our memories of the last six weeks... wiped."

"It's fairly common here," Snow White offered. "For in this little town, and, I guess, in East Storybrooke- there is magic… but I swear that WE didn't do it!" She bit her lip, worried, because the last time that everyone had come to Storybrooke with missing memories, it really had been the result of her Dark Curse- but even her memory of casting it had been gone.

"Friends- meet us in the town, down the road. Look around, get acclimated, and- this evening, we shall meet and find food and lodging for your people," Charming promised, not knowing what he could really arrange in a day.

Hook drove them back to the old brick apartment building they called home, still driving slowly because he only remembered the basics about driving from a couple of brief lessons Emma had given him. "I'll take care of looking for Emma," he said. "You and your baby -you need rest- we all do, really." Hook didn't feel tired but he knew that everyone who made the trip to Storybrooke was lacking sleep, and the memory of all that they did to wear themselves out.

"I don't know what this is," Charming mumbled to himself, "Maybe I didn't sleep the last six weeks or maybe it's just inter- realm jet lag or something."

"Please-rest up, mate. We'll rejoin our efforts at town hall, this evening, eh?" It was strange, planning out any logistics in Emma's absence. That's what _she_ would be doing...

Hook bid them adieu and idled the car towards Main Street, parking behind Emma's old yellow bug. His vision did not appear.

He manifested some posters with a candid photo of Emma outside Henry's house on them- an old photo that Emma had saved from the town paper's undercover efforts to follow and spy on her. Still, it was an honest view of how she'd looked day to day, and her down-to-earth beauty was sure to draw attention as much as the heading: MISSING.

As Hook put up some posters on electric poles, an icy voice startled him, "How I'd wished, almost all my life, that I would be lucky enough to be on a Missing and Lost poster. But my parents had expected me to look for and save them, not the other way around."

Hook grimaced. "They're looking now, love, now it's too late. In your life, you had forgiven them, Swan!" he said under his breath.

There was his eternal vision, with smoky eyelids and pale lips frowning. She leaned against a light post, arms folded. Her white-blond hair was in a braid encircling her head, and she looked stiff and cold in an asymmetric black leather jacket with a high collar, and tight black pants covered with the zigzag stitching of patchwork. "I hardly feel like a... forgiver." She walked to the bulletin board outside of town hall with him, in long strides, watching him put up posters that encouraged any information be brought to the sheriff's office. "I don't feel like a savior, either. Haven't for a looong time. And now this Curse we cast together- it has no savior written into it. No special kiss will break it. People are going to have to find out what they must with hard work, for once, and not a quick magical cure!"

"It didn't take much for that, ah, potential for darkness, to come back to ya, did it?" He snapped, bringing up one of several prophecies made about her, before she was even born. Her mother had had a vision when pregnant with her, warning her that Emma's heart would hardly be pure, and she would have the greatest capacity for dark deeds in her time. Even though Emma's parents had made a twisted sacrifice to rid their unborn child of all that, even though the goodness that was left guided Emma's childhood and youth so she could still be a decent person… it guided her into adulthood in lieu of her parents being there. She would have rathered all the ups and downs and work of family life than the magical solution they used.

Without a retort, the pale, tired vision of Emma paused and listened. They had neared town hall enough to hear Zelena's shrill angry voice, with the hypersensitive hearing of the Dark One. They heard her arguing within, with her sister.

"Again, how could I have cast your rubbish Curse? The thing I love most is certainly alive- No, don't think you get to feel my belly out of sisterly concern! What? You think I should prove this cuff works by trying to use magic to check on my baby? Don't be a monster, Regina! If you're going to keep me prisoner, you have to let me see a real doctor and get a real check up! Don't you think I would use magic to ease this pregnancy if I could? Look at my ankles!"

Hook snuck up to the window of the mayor's office, curious. He saw Regina and Robin Hood towering over Zelena, who was handcuffed to a chair, with the other wrist cuffed to stop her magic. "I don't know, six weeks are a blank," Regina grumbled. "Time enough for you to fall in love with something, I suppose, and sacrifice it!"

Robin announced, "That's enough for now. We don't want to stress out the baby by stressing her out, too much. We're all tired-her even more so-"

"Jail cell or asylum cell- that's what I've been wondering," Regina said. They both glanced at Zelena, who was disgusted by how they talked as if she wasn't there. "Don't worry, either way you'll be safer than the last time we locked you up. Mr. Gold, I've heard, is still in a coma."

With a look exchanged with Robin, she waved her hand and transported her sister away. They embraced, thinking themselves alone. "There's another way to find the dagger, dear," Regina said. "Belle mentioned something- a gauntlet- but I'm afraid she still doesn't trust me or want to work with me. Could you- honey, she's your friend…"

"Yeah, I could go talk to her. Get some rest." With a long kiss goodbye, he headed out of the mayor's office.

"See you at home?" Regina called out, happily.

Hook sighed and stole away down a back alley route to the pawnshop on the corner. "Belle, the gauntlet…" he whispered to himself. "That's it. It's what she used to find the dagger! That awful night in the clock tower. A few months ago…" Belle had saved his life that night, by grabbing Rumpelstiltskin's dagger to control him and stop him from killing his lifelong enemy. Would she now destroy Killian's life-the way of life he had created, anyway?

His ghostly girlfriend walked briskly beside him, her stacked heels clacking on the pavement. "Hurry, Killian. They can't find out you have it! They can't see whose name is on the dagger!"

At the Golds' pawnshop, Hook felt a protection spell before he even tried to get in. He saw Belle, Pinocchio, and the nun known as the Blue Fairy inside. They were talking and frequently glancing towards the curtain between them and the workshop in back. Hook knocked, hesitantly -and was let inside by the heroes who still considered him a friend. "How are you all getting on?" he asked Belle.

"I'm dead tired and sore, but the town has been safe while we were gone- thanks to Blue. Things are pretty much the same here…"

"The same?" Killian asked, looking around at the dusty shelves and cobwebs on sale items- Mr. Gold no longer lay on the wooden floor, but on a cot in the workshop. They could glimpse him as the Blue Fairy went back there briefly to check on him, take his magical pulse, as she must have been doing for weeks…

"Yeah, except for the gradual deterioration of my husband, even under the preservation spell," Belle said glumly, holding up a large glass bell jar. With a thought, she could clear the fog on the glass and see an enchanted cut rose that was floating within- its petals were few and dark, its leaves withered. "This has been my gauge of how he fares- and last I remember, we were in that other land, & it was a rose full of petals!"

"So, he's dying," Killian said dryly. "And… you're upset? The crocodile betrayed you, worst of all!"

Belle teared up as she stammered over her explanation. "I- I know but there's more- there's more to him, there's still more for him in this life! He did so many terrible things but he did good things too, and he deserves better than- a prolonged death, like this…" Killian nodded. Belle went on, "In the back room, he still lays in- in a coma, with a completely blank heart, a purer heart than any grown man ever had- thanks to the Apprentice's magic, he could have a completely different life, a blank slate, and he deserves the chance to try!"

"If there's anything I can do-"

"Ah, well, there actually might be something, some kind of spell for restoration in a… situation like this. Blue Fairy's already done all the research she could, she can't find anything, but maybe you and I- can go over -" her tone lowered, "another resource. I don't know -I could translate, you could cross reference?"

Killian heard the whispers of all the ancient Dark Ones at the back of his mind. "She means the Dark One tomes," they said. "Our journals, our secrets… every Dark One has sought them out! Collected them! They're here, _she_ has them!"

"Aye. As soon as you're ready, I'll be here to help." he said.

"Belle, is this it?" Pinocchio called out, and emerged from the back room. He'd found a shining metal armored glove, per her instructions.

Belle nodded, wanting to approach, but feeling her feet stuck to the floor. She wanted to help everyone find Emma, and then she wanted to get back to a semblance of normal, somehow - she knew she could do that most easily with Rumpelstiltskin lying dormant like that. It was the least complicated situation, with a still, silent Rumpel who couldn't manipulate her. But at the same time she had to hold back from crying, kneeling at his side and kissing his forehead. If she got close to him, she feared that her brave front would fall apart. It would be too easy to try to revive him, take care of him, and forget that they were officially separated.

Her friends were patient as Belle haltingly walked towards Rumpelstiltskin, took the gauntlet that was still his, and gently fit it over his limp hand. It would point out the greatest weakness of the owner, the thing he treasured most. "Let's see, here. It will work as long as he's the owner-uh, should be especially clear if he's wearing it though."

Killian was sweating, anxious to find out if this would work and point out the new possessor of the old man's precious dagger. The Blue Fairy was giving him a sidelong look- did she know? Couldn't she suspect who was touched by Dark magic? He had come up with a few different excuses on the way over here but he was still nervous- if these three knew, he would have to trap or kill them, then bury that magical gauntlet far from here.

A taut, mean voice taunted him from the back of his mind. "Now would be the time to kill me! The gauntlet- wouldn't work, and no one would be able to tell I'd died-for as long as that rose of hers is kept out of sight and out of mind. AH- but you _can't_ kill me!" The vision of Rumpelstiltskin was shaking his head behind Killian. "That preservation spell protects me until I'm all well again!"

The heavy iron gauntlet didn't move. Rumpelstiltskin did not move. For different reasons, Belle and Killian breathed sighs of relief.

"The fingers aren't pointing the way to anything- that means its hold on him has broken!" Belle said, in shock.

"His heart was drained of its darkness so- now he just doesn't have a weakness, as we typically think of it," Blue reasoned. "He may be just void of… desire."

"Or…" Killian said, "Maybe this glove need not point anywhere, because his weakness, his soft spot, is already here. And now it's a lass and not a weapon of power."

Belle's eyes welled up with hot, conflicted tears. Pinocchio offered a shoulder to cry on. "Hey, hey now, it's- a lot to take in! You're beat! You said you're beat. Come with me to Granny's- the bed and breakfast part is still here in Storybrooke, just minus the fresh breakfast! I'll make sure you get my old room-penthouse. Then you be sure to get some rest."

Killian nodded to her. "I'll check in tomorrow-I'm at your disposal."

The cheery ding-ding of the bell above the front door was heard as someone rattled it, trying to get in- Belle rushed forward to let Robin Hood past the magical barrier. With that small diversion, Killian left without a word or a glance at the Blue Fairy. He couldn't believe his cover was still intact!

His beautiful vision of Emma was walking down the sidewalk several yards ahead of him. She looked back to smile genuinely at him, in the glow of morning light, then kept going. She was leading him- to the house he had seen in an ad in the paper. To their house, at the edge of Storybrooke and East Storybrooke. Home.

He found the keys in his jacket pocket. The keys to a sanctuary where he and his vision could escape the ongoing pressures and dangers of heroism. A porch, a foyer, a plain little kitchen, a plain little den. Everything was bright white or subdued blue and gray, freshly painted or polished, smelling clean as starched linens. He ran up the stairs to their bedroom, looked out on the wonderful view of his ship at the docks, and then shut out the daylight with the long, heavy curtains. He laughed as he fell back onto their big soft bed and at last could relax, with Emma flopping on the bed beside him playfully. He unzipped her jacket and melted into their closeness and caresses.

Somewhere on the upper floor, a clock was ticking.

Emma wasn't there.

A radio was on downstairs, playing "Working my way back to you babe. ...Working all the time." Killian was exhausted but couldn't rest. He doubted himself. Doubted that there was any future for him. He knew that he had spent too long dwelling on the past. He opened the cabinet full of expensive foreign bottles of rum and read all the labels in wonder. Magic brought him his choice consolation, the spirit he subsisted on for so long, but there was no one to drink with and nothing to drink to. He no longer felt the cold winds of time passing him by, the cold cruelty of the world that had always motivated him to drink and warm himself against it. Now there was a noticeable electric buzzing under his skin, the warm drive of magic. It made him invincible and kept him up at night. He closed the liquor cabinet and meandered over to the telescope.

Gleaming and polished, it swiveled smoothly atop a tripod and pointed out his perfect white trimmed bay window. This was the perfect house for a couple of restless orphans who had found a home with each other, him and Emma. Perfect oil lanterns on the wall, perfect gray comfy couch to snuggle on, perfect antique desk full of maps for their adventures. But Emma's ghost seemed to appear and disappear as it wanted. She was not a puppet waiting for him to pull the strings and direct the dance of a cozy leisurely home routine. Even though she was in his head, she was more like a somber, morbid mirage than a lucid daydream. Where was the Mirage now when Killian just wanted to take turns drinking from a flask and spinning the telescope with someone, each time finding someone random to spy on in Storybrooke. He had a wonderful vantage point for either scanning the Seascape or spying on the town. If Emma were here she would make it a game with him and help him train his Magic.

"I am here," said a low breathy voice and he felt a presence behind him. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up he turned and tried to smile, tried to exhale in the presence of ghosts. Emma reached in front of him and put her eye to the telescope. He was trying to be happy, for her.

"Glad you're still here and we can have a relaxing night in," he said.

Her smile was taut as well because she was in and out of his reality- and she couldn't be happy, truly happy, it seemed, for the rest of her afterlife. "I spy with my little eye..." she said playfully, hoping to fulfill his expectations of her that were painfully clear, now that all Dark Ones were in his head.

"What do you spy Emma?" He tried to play along. She took a step back, trying not to sigh heavily as she had taken to lately. He looked at where she had focused the telescope. Henry and Regina were exploring East Storybrooke, walking down the boardwalk, trying every locked door, looking inside the shops.

"He's a smart lad. He'll figure it out. East Storybrooke... I put so much of my energy and intention into it-"

"It's really elaborate, for your first Curse-" she interrupted, being supportive.

"But it's too obvious. It's too obviously something I would want. They'll all catch on that a Dark Curse brought them here, created this little port town, and for a Dark Curse a heart must be sacrificed... Emma, you're the only one noticeably missing. They'll think I sacrificed YOUR heart, for this town! ... What's the plan?"

She hugged him from behind, trying to calm him. "Trust my family to not jump to that conclusion. They wouldn't do anything without the whole story... which they'll never know. So the plan is. ..." She smoothed his shoulders and arms. "Give people time to move on from my death." He shuddered at those words. "My parents will focus on raising their baby, and Regina will help Henry through junior high and high school..."

"Which I suppose you want to watch, through my eyes?" Killian asked.

"The point is, they'll all assume the Dark One is gone, move on from any concerns about the Dark One, live their lives... and once people have truly forgotten about the power of the Dark One, we will be free to use our power-"

"How's that? Your boy will be the first to notice that I won't age and everyone else will." He turned, gripped her shoulders and pulled her close to examine her pale, drawn face.

She hurried to explain. "You can use magic, I'll show you, so that you do seem to age-"

"And when would I seem to die? Can we skip to that part, and let me be free of your family and this town?" He spun the telescope away from him. It swiveled around to point its wide lens at him, reflecting someone he didn't want to see. Killian had to get out. "We'll have the rest of eternity to have cozy nights in, love," he said as he threw open the front door. He hurried down the steps from their half-enclosed porch to the gravel walkway, to look up at the stars that were coming out already.

He could not escape the spirits of Dark Ones past. Nimue was suddenly in front of him, squinting her animal eyes at him. "You mean to just sail away? Do you?" He could see his ship from their front yard, beyond their thorny hedge; the view of the docks along the rocky beach made him yearn. She hissed, "You know what would happen to you beyond these small towns, created by Curses. You know what would happen, without magic."

Meanwhile, the dwarves cautiously drew straws to cross Storybrooke s town line and test the new Curse. They had crossed from East Storybrooke to Storybrooke with no incident, and now they gulped as they each pulled a straw from Doc's fist- the fated shortest straw was drawn by Bashful, who looked at the weathered metal sign that said Leaving Storybrooke and dutifully took a step beyond it on the narrow country road. He looked back at his brothers woefully, feeling the pains of transformation -roots shot down, cracking open the blacktop, his body stiffened and grew course like a trunk, and thin branches started to rise up from his back and grow around his head. The dwarves gasped as Bashful grew into a tall willow tree, and suddenly they all remembered a tree just like this at the gate of Camelot - in which the Sorcerer had been imprisoned.

Killian reluctantly went back inside his house. 200 East Shore Street. Every room was too bare, there was little to explore, and he wasn't sure he'd ever be inspired to fill it up or make it more of a home. Only one door seemed to draw his interest-surprisingly, not just any door to a closet under the stairs. It was a door with an old-fashioned iron latch and lock-with concentration, he could manifest the key in his hand. It lead to unfinished wooden stairs that descended into the Dark and cold, farther than the house's foundation, deep into a cave.

With the rigging of some floodlights and an extension cord from the shed, Killian could see where the cavernous path ended. There was a glimmer of jewels, the shine of steel- he had brought himself some buried treasure to uncover! And perhaps not just here, but elsewhere in town!

He pointed the floodlight at - Excalibur! It was there, in his basement, lodged in the boulder from Camelot! He longed to grasp its handle and try- but the legends said that if not the rightful leader of the land, grabbing it could turn you to dust!

Nimue chuckled from the shadows. "For years, this artifact -in a different form-lay dormant in my basement as well," she said. "But that was before…" her cloaked form glided towards the sword. "Before I took a risk, and found out I was worthy! I could touch it and not die."

Emma touched his hand softly. "Merlin warned me not to ever take this sword from the stone! That goes for you, too, because-"

"What _about_ me?" Killian asked.

" _You, Hook?"_ Nimue said, mocking. "You know this sword- and it's counterpart- could even kill a Dark One."

Killian protested, "But you can act through me- you have before- and you can take it, using my hand-"

"You're not _ready_ Hook!" She was instantly close to him. "You want to control that sword? Find the rightful leader of the land. Control that person, and you'll control the sword and its magic."

Later, the curious Captain paced among the newcomers from Camelot. He was on edge as Storybrooke's town hall filled up with new and old transplants from the Enchanted Forest, awaiting answers. A knight was missing, the modern world confused them, and they mistrusted their hosts. He tried to cover up his motive in this, the latest Curse, by going between introductions and welcomes, handing out maps from Storybrooke s tiny tourism office and promising food to be provided at Granny's, and tolerance from the sheriffs, for anyone who wanted to squat in a houseboat or borrow a parked vehicle from East Storybrooke.

The Charmings called everyone to attention. They tried to offer a basic understanding of a Dark Curse, amid questions and grumblings from the newcomers - Regina kept interrupting to remind everyone just how much they don't know about magic.

Grumpy stood to announce, "Terrible news! The town line- the boundaries of Storybrooke AND the new town that landed-it's got magic again! Bashful, poor Bashful..." he took off his hat and slouched, looking down.

Snow White gasped. "No-!"

Grumpy shook his head. "We had to find out what would happen to a person who left- after all, leaving town may be the only way to escape the new Curse…Bashful was brave when he drew the short straw- and turned into a tree!"

The other six dwarfs and the giant, Anton, stood, hats off. There was a moment of silence.

Nimue appeared to Killian, sitting placidly on a folding chair near the aisle. She turned to the back of the hall to look at him and nod. His mind opened to hers- no one could leave- no one could come! There was magic in this town that Nimue was hell bent on protecting.

King Arthur, looking serious and sleep-deprived with his uncombed jet-black hair and striking, wily pale blue eyes, slowly walked to the front of the room. "That is Dark One magic, the same transformation that happened to the Sorcerer, Merlin, ages ago! I have studied it my whole life. If anyone is to solve this mystery, and restore our recent memories -I will." The crowd stirred. Killian, leaning against a pillar at the back of the room, was watching him intently. Was this… a leader, who he could control? Was Arthur the key to making the mystery... stay a mystery?

Killian slipped out of the meeting as Arthur and the Charmings started to shoot logistical ideas back and forth. Within a couple days, the aspirations of this man would quickly prove to be either posturing or effective leadership. Perhaps he could be directed towards shaping public opinion, and using Excalibur to the ends of the Dark One…. not cutting Killian with it, like he did back in Camelot!

Killian found solace at last aboard the Jolly Roger. She could rock him to sleep like no other. Thoughtless, dreamless, deep sleep.

Snow White paced the hard cement floor of her humble town's city hall, sore from talking and pacing and crying. Neal was asleep in his stroller- her son she barely recognized, having missed weeks of his precious babyhood! Snow's composed, managerial facade had broken down hours ago, with the mounting bad news. The Blue Fairy had updated her- no one had any news of any changes that would indicate Emma had left them- or lifted the darkness.

"I feel like we failed her somehow," Snow had blurted out to her lifelong friend. "All she did was save the Apprentice from being the Dark One, then she saved Regina, and then she disappeared! When we found her back in the Enchanted Forest, we were able to stop her from hurting someone- so as far as we know, she never hurt anybody! It couldn't be that hard to -remove the darkness from her heart, like the Sorcerer's Apprentice had for Rumpelstiltskin! Right? Is it possible that's what we already did?"

"I don't think so- temper your expectations, dear Snow," Blue had said, in her cautionary voice. "You think your daughter innocent, but really- Emma did not take on the Dark One magic simply while saving Regina from it. She took it on as soon as she attacked the person who'd just been harboring that magic- the Sorcerer's Apprentice- which led to... his death."

The distraught mother gulped hard. In all the commotion, she had blocked out this fact-or had not wanted to think it true! The Sorcerer's Apprentice had died!

"I'm so sorry-she became the Dark One, somewhat in the... usual way. And now, without the Apprentice's help, I don't know that we can recreate that spell he did…" the Blue Fairy trailed off. There was nothing she could say.

Snow White was devastated by the news that her daughter had killed someone. Again. She hadn't meant to! She had only meant to blast the Apprentice with light magic to save him, on that fateful night! But all this death and destruction-it seemed to be what the darkness demanded. Was there any escape from it?

"If Emma hadn't used her magic on the Apprentice- " Snow struggled to think things through in her despair. "If she hadn't, then the Dark One magic would have kept on attacking everyone who had light magic! Including you! So she… she saved you! How could you say-? You don't know! You didn't see how that dagger was blank, it didn't bear my daughter's name until -"

The Blue Fairy had hugged her defensive young friend, muffling her gasping sobs and broken sentences. "Yes, it didn't bear her name until she embraced the darkness as her own," she said gently. When Blue was right about something, she couldn't help but say it. "I'm sorry."

Charming overheard the bad news as the meeting broke up, as he was bidding everyone farewell, family by family. It knocked the wind out of him. There was a word for what happened to the Apprentice, because of Emma, and what was happening to Mr. Gold, who was nearing death because of the Apprentice. There was a legal term- manslaughter? Sadly it didn't matter to the dagger, whether it was manslaughter or murder. The tradition of the Dark One was passed on by a long chain of murders, and with his daughter still missing -no, he couldn't think that way.

No one had any clues about where their troubled adult daughter was. From what Snow had gathered from the Blue Fairy, -there had been no noticeable change in the balance between good and evil, in all the magic that she was able to monitor. Archie, the therapist who everyone thought of as their conscience-he had a good read on people- he'd tried to comfort Snow and Charming, but was unable to answer their questions about whether anyone was hiding something, holding back information, or whether anyone had transformed in any way during the missing weeks, due to magic.

Snow's husband tried to hug her as she paced and sniffled- they were the last ones left in the dim town hall. Snow was flipping her flip phone open and closed nervously. Who else could she ask? She had already called Regina twice, after Regina had gone home to puzzle over the mysterious old magical reference books that came with them in the Curse. So far, she'd found notes in the books in her own handwriting and the handwriting of other witches and wizards, but nothing in them was an explicit record of what had happened to them! Or Emma...

Snow locked up the building, she still had the keys from her brief term as de facto Mayor - and she and Charming just paced with the stroller outside. She could try calling Hook again- maybe he would answer?

"Hook! I'm -sorry; I know it's late. But do you remember... any more?"

The Dark One had reluctantly answered his cell phone as he sat up in his bunk on his ship. He heard the desperation in the quivering voice on the line. "No, milady, uh, I don't know..." Next to him, his seductive vision of Emma Swan leaned in -her eyes were bloodshot, behind her thick black lashes- and started to undress him.

"You've done so much, my love," she whispered. "But they will never let you rest, not until they have answers." She cocked her head "... Regina would have given them false memories, to wrap everything up, if it were her Curse. But- honey, your Curse was rushed. ..." Emma's hands were all over his muscular arms and chest, feeling for something. Hook didn't know what to say to her mother on the phone, but he burned with desire to respond to Emma –and a desire to outshine Regina and all who had ever done dark magic, for some reason. It was new. So was the scaly patch of skin that Emma's cold hands found. Scales! On his arm! She whispered with relish, "That means- that not only have you wrought Dark One magic- you liked it."

Killian rushed towards the mirror to examine himself. Not only were the people of Storybrooke and East Storybrooke paying the price of his magic! He was paying the price, too! He looked back at his girlfriend's demure expression, unsure if he could embrace this change, like she could. With a deep breath, he told the woman on the phone, "I do remember something." He turned towards Emma, his level gaze on her in the dark captain's quarters. "But it was so painful, Snow White, I had to be sure it was not just a nightmare. I... am sure now, I remember... your daughter died! Lady, she sacrificed herself back in Camelot!"

A shocked silence from Snow White and Emma.

He went on, "She had used magic to create... a special fire, a fire that was taller-and hotter, even than she. And older, so old, it was from the fire that had- forged the Dark One dagger! She took that dagger and jumped into the fire- because it was the only way to rid the world of the Dark One!"

Over Snow's cries of "No, no, no," Killian said softly, insistently, "She did it, you know. She was a hero! She did it! And with her death, I- I did something I never thought- with her death, I was able to cast the Dark Curse to get us all back home. You see, she was the one I loved most!"

"No, no, Hook! What- what about our memories?" Snow asked in a small voice.

"Something went wrong, I don't understand!"

Snow White understood, all too well, as she had cast the Dark Curse herself once. Something had gone wrong then... a spell for forgetting had been mixed in. She dropped the phone and dropped to her knees, holding her head. She repeated what she'd heard to her husband, hollowly. They sat on the sidewalk together and cried.

"Very impressive half-truths," Dark Emma said. She shed her V-shaped camisole and tight leather pants. "You're letting me die a hero-thank you." Only now did Killian notice the few glittering, iridescent scales that had grown on her arms and wrists.

"All that's left is to bury you," he said.

Later, looking up at the stars from the deck, he sang himself a little song that had been on the radio at Christmas time in Storybrooke. It had stuck with him. "I wonder, as I wander, out under the sky, why Emma, the savior, did come for to die..." He sang and made plans. "For poor ord'nry people like you and like I… I wonder as I wander out under. ...the sky…"


	5. Blank Heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Will Killian save Rumpelstiltskin?

Chapter Five

Blank Heart

Daisies and roses. The gravel road through the cemetery was lined with arrangements of daisies and roses, white as Emma Swan's magic had once been. A flower arrangement in the shape of an adult swan sat before the large stone memorial for her. Killian felt that his love had been anything but a delicate flower- still, this service was for the family's sake. He had been working hard -not on every detail of the service, that was easy enough with magic- but on the tokens that everyone in attendance would receive. Set into each tag board program was a little metal circle that was a replica of the pendant on Emma's favorite necklace- they were tokens, imbued with magic, that would grant a certain set of false memories. The questers and all those who were collateral damage, from Camelot, would be at the memorial service, and in a reflective mood. Susceptible to the new memories.

"Our daughter, the savior," Snow White began, holding Charming's hand, "is gone from the world."

A large crowd sat in folding chairs on the cemetery lawn and listened- Regina Mills, Killian Jones, and Pinocchio, were to speak as well, so it would take a while. Arthur and his wife, Guinevere, were there, dressed in plain tunics from their land and this world's nice wool coats over them. They fiddled with the programs as they learned about Emma Swan, the woman they briefly met-apparently six weeks ago, as part of these strangers' mission to find and eradicate the Dark One. All the knights, noblemen and their families sat nearby, as part of a gesture of friendship with their hosts. Arthur sympathized with the mourning parents at the same time that he recognized that this made them weaker leaders. Already he could tell they had lied, and their lies were unraveling. The questers had said that Regina was the savior, not Emma- could there be two? Why had they kept this woman's abilities a secret, back in Camelot? As their poor decisions came to light-Arthur would be the one to protect the people from further assaults of dark magic- and find a way back to his kingdom. If he couldn't find a way, this kingdom would do.

Slowly he remembered- Arthur had been there, watching this woman draw up an enchanted fire from basically nothing! He had watched her throw herself in and die! Everyone in his small, broken kingdom had seen it! He still wasn't sure what came before or after that - but he couldn't wait to gather his knights and tell them that this solved the mystery of their missing weeks!

After the service, many flowers and mementos were laid at the base of the tall onyx boulder that read, Emma Swan, 1985- 2016. People carpooled to Granny's Diner for an informal reception. Killian knew that by the time they got there and were ready to share memories about the dead, most of them would have one more...

Belle offered her condolences from the driver's side window of the polished black Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham de Elegance that had been Mr. Gold's. "Killian, I'm so sorry. I know what it's like, to lose someone you love to the darkness- and then-even to death!"

"I don't really know what to do with myself now," Killian said, honestly. "Except -help you with _your beloved_. Maybe you don't have to lose him yet again. When should I come by? The shop, or the library?"

Belle looked down when he said "beloved." With a car full of gossipy ladies in waiting who she had offered to chauffeur, she didn't want to admit to having a love that was so hard to explain - or not having one. "How about four? At the library? If you're up to it?"

He nodded. Pinocchio rode past on his motorcycle, giving Killian a suspicious, sidelong look. He hadn't lied during the memorial service- but he had omitted plenty. If he tried too hard to smooth things over, Pinocchio, the Blue Fairy, and others with insight on the Dark One would be even more suspicious. What could Killian do? They were unaffected by the memory loss and replacement he'd done.

Emma's parents came over to thank him for arranging everything so quickly. His vision of Emma was at his side, holding back tears of gratitude as she lovingly watched them leave in their faded red Ford. She pursed her pale lips and hugged herself tightly, expecting never to be hugged by family again, or seen by them in life or the afterlife.

She walked off into the cemetery, wanting to be alone.

A scowling, thin slip of a woman just Emma's age was among the last to leave the service. She rocked back and forth on her heels, passively watching Killian pack up folding chairs onto the bed of a truck he'd borrowed. She wanted to say something to the headstone, but didn't know how.

"Emma… " She whispered to herself. Killian felt like he was intruding, being able to hear so well over the clanks of metal chairs. "You kind of went to extremes, girl. I figured that... once you found you had a family, a real family that was real fucking royalty… thought you'd go on being lucky, and everything would be all fluffy-bunny for you." She pushed back her short, greasy brown hair. "But no, it wasn't. ...You decided to be THE damn Dark One. All that supposed evil you had when we were babies? I guess you sloughed it off onto me. And then you got it back again just by way of living life. And then you got real, like, metaphysical evil, and then apparently…. " She sighed. "You got rid of that too. Let's hope it's for good! Yeah, if you could do all that… what's my excuse, right? I should probably-I mean, I know I can… do better for myself. I don't really know how, but maybe I can be, like, a guardian dragon!"

Killian realized that this lass must be Emma's childhood friend that she had pointed out to him- Lilith? Or Lily? The one with the remarkable ability to transform into a dragon- and the unremarkable tendency to lie, cheat, counterfeit and steal. She would be a convenient scapegoat to keep around if he ever needed one, if anything ever went wrong with his magic-

An unwanted vision was there, watching him. Rumpelstiltskin perched atop the hood of the black Dodge, in a deep red jacket and vest, red pants of crocodile skin, and a cummerbund and pocket scarf made of some unrecognizable animal skin. He jumped down to confront the new Dark One about his plans for Lily. "My thoughts exactly, dearie. You'll find that in order to be the hero everyone wants - there has to be _some_ villain!"

Killian growled at him as he hung his head and glared at the vision from the corner of his eye. That was why Rumpelstiltskin had his former students, the so-called Queens of Darkness, push Emma towards ruthlessness and evil! And it had worked! That was back when he'd been inventing the fiction of the Light One, a heroic role for himself that of course depended on everyone else around him having a completely opposite life!

Rumpelstiltskin's apparition squinted over at the would-be villain, Lily. "Someone worse-than- _you_!" With that, Rumpelstiltskin reached in and yanked Killian's flask from his jacket's inner pocket, then disappeared. Killian suddenly felt more violated -and thirsty -than ever.

Lily kicked pebbles along the road as she walked to the reception in East Storybrooke.

It was an afternoon of Bourbon. Crowded lunch counter full of people drinking and humming along to American Pie, playing on the jukebox. Cheery toasts giving way to the tears of strangers. Awkward attempts to make conversation with the son Emma left behind.

"You were friends with my mom, right?" Henry asked.

"Yeah."

"I read that- well, I read some pages that didn't make it into the Storybook, some pages the Sorcerer's Apprentice let me see-and they were about you…" The boy's curiosity seemed to get his mind off what had happened.

Lily shifted, and sighed. "Yeah, so it's true that she and I were supposed to balance each other, somehow, like, I was sent to this world -just to fuck it up, I guess, and she was sent to this world to- save the other one." She muttered under her breath, "And who was supposed to save this world from me…?"

"Do you think you'll be alright? I mean, all this isn't going to make you go into full-on beast mode, is it?"

Lily laughed, and elbowed Henry. "You're really something. It's you that I'd be worried about! But you know, you're like your mom, really... concerned for others… Listen, if you ever need-" Lily stopped herself from uttering the cliché. "If you ever need _a ride_ somewhere. Or want to talk. My Rebel and I are here for ya." She wrote down her number on the back of a funeral program, and headed out. She had decided to walk today, knowing that she'd be drinking. Her old blue AMC Rebel was waiting at home, ready and willing to help drive around a young boy in need- even a boy who, people said, ran away a lot.

Someone followed Lily, someone who'd been listening intently to others' sensitive conversations, interested as he was in utilizing other people's regrets. He followed slowly enough to not be noticed, and to see the serious young woman go to a place called The Rabbit Hole bar.

It was a dim tavern trying to be uplifting with a cacophonous musical performance in the corner. Someone sang into a stick as noise poured out of large gray boxes that Arthur didn't understand. "Oh lord, don't let me be misunderstood," she sang to the lonely pub.

A man at the counter gave him a friendly nod. "Happy hour karaoke!" he explained. Arthur noticed few people there, and none were happy this hour. He ordered a pint of mead and watched Lily, sitting at the bar in his peripheral vision. This woman had pain and weariness written on her face. This woman had a 'beast mode.' Arthur had plenty of experience from his quests, drinking people's secrets out of them, while keeping his own. Still, his thirst was stronger than ever today- not that the sweet thick mead was particularly good here. It was just that abandoning his life's goals was particularly bitter. His kingdom was gone. Vanished. And the Dark One dagger-destroyed- so Excalibur would never be whole. A disappointment that he and Guinevere would keep to themselves, for as long as they could.

Lily ordered a whiskey sour and surveyed the small bar crowd. She didn't have the first clue about how to guard or help the people of Storybrooke, now that Emma was gone -and it was even harder to pit people against her grieving parents, the evil rulers Princess Snow and Prince Charming. That was what she was fond of doing here. Only after putting down the town's 'heroes' could she feel like she had a chance to be important, too.

"Hey you," she nodded to the man with dark, side parted hair, a long wool pea coat and- metal armored boots. "What were you? Back there? Hero or villain?"

"In my land, I was a king," he said.

Lily blew her brown hair away from her face and rolled her eyes. It was not as fun to rabble-rouse among royals.

The wind blew the door open before a shadowy figure that filled the doorway. Since Lily had last seen him, Captain Jones had been to the liquor store, filled his many jacket pockets with little bottles and a new flask, and seemed to have doused himself with the smell of alcohol. He ordered two shots and slid a third one down the bar to Arthur, then, gulping down his, ambled out again.

The captain stumbled down Main Street, up to the white double doors of the public library, feeling loaded down and confused. He just leaned against them and unlocked them without even thinking -fortunately, the only one in the low-lit public library was too preoccupied to notice this quick resort to magic. Belle Gold, looking beautiful as always -and sad, in all black - knelt, digging through a pile of books - today, a pile of fragile yellowed scrolls and handmade books in a trunk that was on the floor.

" _The Dark One Chronicles._ They're yours. It's your right _."_

Killian Jones tried to shake the voices from his head.

Belle looked up to say hello, but at once was filled with concern. "Killian! Are you - sit down, here. Just- we can wait on some coffee, huh? I'll start the coffee maker that's in the caretaker's apartment, and-"

"What?" he said defensively.

"You're drunk!" She started to tear up with concern -and anger. "And I could really use some help here!"

 _No_ , he thought, t _he Dark One can't really get drunk, any more than he can really sleep_. "I haven't been drunk in years!"

"Well, you're- sure letting yourself act that way! And today, of all days, no one would blame you if you were. I'm not blaming you. You are welcome to keep me company… when you're sober, I might ask you to skim some of these texts that are in modern languages." She glanced at the magical bell jar on the reference desk. "Frankly, I don't have much time to help Rumpel!"

He tried to sit up straight on the low, polished wood chair. Where was his lovely ghost of a girlfriend, who should bolster him at a time like this? "Just -hand me that one at the bottom! And we'll, uh... read together."

"How about instead… you find me a Sanskrit and Latin dictionary from the stacks. That would be a great help," she said, trying to be kind and take things slow, "so I can at least make sense of the headings in these… the earliest Dark One journals…"

"Ah, I can read Latin," he offered. He grinned at her surprise. "Aye! Still have some learning from my time in the Royal Navy- and some French I picked up, in my travels."

She carefully laid out a thin scroll of spells in Latin and faded diagrams, on the desk.

"This is... hardly... instructions for resuscitation of any sort." He reached for the next scroll from the dusty trunk that must have been in Rumpelstiltskin's basement for years, judging by the smell. The sun quickly set as they gingerly paged through each of the Dark One tomes. The whistling wind and subtle darkness seeped into the library's front hall as they worked, taking down notes on tablets and copying phrases verbatim that they could not translate or make sense of. Belle's brow furrowed whenever she came across a morbid spell or the graphic, grisly experiences of the Dark One. Killian was unaffected, just thirsty -for drink and for knowledge. He was curious about trying some of these malicious spells on his enemy once he woke- which would be best to end him? He took a big swig. And- he wondered, which would work to end himself, after his revenge was satisfied?

Before they knew it Belle was yawning and shaking her head at the clock- 1 AM. Killian suggested, "Shall I walk you back to the hotel? We'll look at these tomorrow with fresh eyes?"

"Hotel-no- fresh- fresh air, fresh… perspective." She could barely talk or keep her eyes open.

They walked up and down quiet Main Street, beneath the peaceful face of the landmark white clock tower.

"Did Emma keep a journal?"

"No, and in that time she was dark- she was just trying to keep hold of her sanity. Best I can remember, anyway."

Belle sighed and said to herself, "So she ended it all." She kicked off and carried the tall heels that she always wore, to make herself taller and get a little more respect, and felt the cold sidewalk on her soles.

A couple blocks away, the Charmings' truck had parked on the street, bringing people home from the reception at last. Six dwarves hopped down off the truck bed and helped Granny down too. She was singing an old, sad folk song that echoed clearly off Storybrooke's storefronts.

"He quickly ran to her

And found she was dead

And there on her bosom

Where he soaked, tears he shed..."

It struck Killian as truer than Granny knew. She sang on the way home to her little hotel that had been ripped in half by their quest, and now had plastic and Tyvek wrap holding together its open front side.

"Her white apron wrapped around her

He took her for a swan

But a hush and a sigh

'Twas his own Molly Ban..."

The Charmings and the dwarves lingered in the street, listening and starting to cry again.

"He roamed near the place

Where his true love was slain

He wept bitter tears

But his cries were in vain

As he look on the lake

A swan glided by

And the sun slowly sank

In the gray up sky… "

Granny looked up at the sky as she sang, her voice cracking with emotion. She tarried going up the sidewalk, tired as she was, as they all were.

"What's after the end?" Belle asked, as she and Killian paused under a streetlight. "What comes after being the Dark One, if not death? If only Emma could tell us."

The vision of Emma was there, hugging him from behind, helping him mourn. "Free from life, but still weighed down by darkness," she whispered to him, sadly.

Killian repeated this sentiment to Belle as his best guess.

"And what if… in Rumpelstiltskin's case, freed from any darkness, and losing his- almost losing his-life?" Belle choked up.

"There was hardly a Dark One who wanted to be free from the darkness," Killian said slowly, holding a hand that only he could feel, as they walked back towards the library. "We won't have much luck -"

"Someone with light magic!" she exclaimed. In a moment of clarity, she said, "We're looking at the wrong journals! We need the writings of- someone who wanted to relieve the Darkness! Merlin still hasn't turned up- we don't know that we ever found him or that he ever came with us from Camelot -but maybe his journals did! Maybe that's what those books are, that appeared with the Curse -they were incredibly old-"

She almost tripped over herself as she ran back to the library, unlocked it, and rushed to her messenger bag underneath the counter. She laid out the thin hand-sewn books that had mysteriously come with them from Camelot and skimmed every page. A few days ago she had thought them to be old library books that she had probably borrowed in order to help King Arthur and Merlin, and they'd incidentally come with her to this world. Spellbooks, recipe books for all she knew. But now she noticed- the same handwriting, though different languages, different inks, different time periods judging by the language and styles, different format to each entry. This was the Sorcerer's notes over time! Who else had lived as long as the books were old? And the last entry-very brief, leaving several whole pages blank at the end of one book. What had interrupted him? Hadn't he been a benevolent Sorcerer, fighting to eradicate the Dark One? That was how the Apprentice had made him seem. Wouldn't the Sorcerer have taught the Apprentice that spell he'd used on Rumpel's heart? And then, shouldn't there be notes about it in here somewhere?

Killian caught up to her. "How can I help?"

Belle did not look up. "Sanskrit dictionary. Aramaic dictionary. Gaelic too."

"Maybe now you better make that coffee," he said congenially. He got her some dictionaries and reference books on these old languages, as she started brewing a pot of joe up in the library caretaker's apartment. Soon the sound of the percolating coffee pot coming from the back staircase gave way to the sound of snoring- she must have given in to sleep once back in her old quarters.

Killian read Merlin's ancient journal entries, fascinated. For the first time in several hours, he was fully distracted from drinking.

Entries written in desperation. A love story. A tale of normal hopes and broken dreams. The dark magic of murder -for revenge -that tore a couple apart. And the writer was frantic to restore her. Obsessed with the condition of her heart. Whoever she was- the Dark One ended up destroying her. First love lost. The writer wanted to destroy the Dark One and restore his love somehow- but the Dark One was elusive. Here! A plan! A list! As dawn warmed the windows, its light fell on a spell for drawing all darkness out of one person! Killian scrambled to look up every word in the Gaelic dictionary twice. He had to be sure. Roughly translated- it did seem familiar!

"Purest evil, blackest bloom

Darkness too can find its doom

Ever undying but contained

Bound Inside the falcon's chamber

Shorn of anger, thornless danger

There forever to remain..."

Wasn't that what the Sorcerer's Apprentice had chanted, that night that Rumpelstiltskin's ailing heart most needed the spell? Was that the same sort of magic the Apprentice had used on Emma before she was even born, to take away her great potential for darkness?

Killian read on. Surely this spell had not been tried on the Dark One of Merlin's day, because that Dark One ended up magically trapping him in the form of a tree. But it was a plan, and there must be follow up for such a plan.

Cedar roots. Saltwater from a storm on the sea. Fire, for its catalyzing effects -the original fire in fact. An acknowledgement of the person that was before. All these were ingredients that had the connotation of purity, and resuscitation!

The grizzled old pirate scratched his stubbled chin, and looked up at the many shrouded Dark Ones that had snuck into view from the shadows. These leering visions nodded encouragingly at him. Already the captain had changed, under their influence- without them, he wouldn't be much for reading all night! Much less would he be someone who could infer the ritual use for things!

He ran back to the Jolly Roger to begin. Cedar roots. Sea storm water. Fire.

Meanwhile, in the clearing in the woods uphill from Storybrooke where campfires constantly burned, the Knights of the Round Table slowly awoke. They had followed Robin Hood and his band up here after the memorial gathering, finding solace in their camaraderie and hospitality. They had found the camp of the Merry Men more comfortable than the eerie houseboats in East Storybrooke, where other newcomers were squatting.

The men shared stories of the Sherwood Forest and Camelot, neither too far from the Enchanted Forest that everyone else in town had hailed from. The talk this morning was all about how- and when- they'd be going back.

"My squire will be here shortly!" Arthur announced grandly to the hung-over group. "I've sent for him, to bring the Royal treasure chest which holds our relics of power! Yes, some of the treasury came with us from Camelot somehow! I found it in a safe place at the docks, where only I was meant to find it- and I've moved it among hiding places until the right time. Until now!"

Right on cue, the young squire Grif was seen through the trees, making his way to the circle of stumps and tents in the woods. He hauled a locked wooden chest.

"A surefire way to travel between realms!" Arthur proclaimed. "A magic bean from the land of giants!" He unlocked the chest with the key on a chain 'round his neck. He had everyone's attention. His plot with Grif was underway, providing something so vital that the service yesterday had reminded him of. Hope. His people needed hope, even if it was just enough to string them along so they'd follow him longer.

"It's- it's missing!" Arthur said as he shuffled the contents of the trunk around. Magical items from past quests in small satchels and bigger metal boxes- none of them contained a bean, or anything all that powerful, but they held the interest of the entire mixed group of men. It was enough to inspire some trust and respect for his resources, his ability to help them. "Who could have taken my key and stolen it? And when- while I slept? Or when we were disoriented, when we were transported here?" he asked the world at large, angrily. "Or- what happened during our missing weeks? Could it have been a forgotten theft or collusion of those who visited us there?"

The knights and the Merry Men looked between each other, confused. Now the questioning and tests of loyalty could begin. The new Camelot would be shaped just as Arthur wanted.

Belle woke with a start on the couch in her old apartment. Was it all a painful dream? Could she really just freshen up, go downstairs, and sort through genres of books to prepare for the library's opening? Was that all that was going on today? Maybe she could hope for a lunch date with her suitor, Rumpelstiltskin, too.

She saw her mess of hair and makeup in the mirror on the door. She'd slept in her nice black blouse and black skirt from- the funeral. There had been a funeral. No, it wasn't a dream, it had all really happened in the years since she'd lived in this little space. She'd already been married, had her heart broken, lived alone in a big fancy house, dated a stranger named Will, feared her husband's return, and after his return, she had watched him have a heart attack- almost die. And then she'd found out that one of the town's heroes, the only one who'd always stood up to Belle's husband, had died.

Going downstairs, she was surprised to find new notes on a notebook page left next to one of Merlin's journals. Killian had been looking at it- and had written an eerie poem amid some hastily scrawled theories. It was a spell he translated - the spell the Apprentice had used! And references to the person that was before, the strength of will, the purifying powers... Belle remembered what that kind older man had said about being able to help Rumpelstiltskin. "If the strength is there..." How much strength did Rumpelstiltskin, the man, really have, to begin again, without magic? Belle wasn't sure- about him, or her own strength. What if the spell worked and she was the only one to nurture his recovery? Would she have the strength of will to break her old habit of letting things slide? Or to hold back from angrily lashing out at him, with all the things she'd wanted to say?

She sighed as she realized she would need help with this- from a very strong-willed witch. The journal entry referred to other spells and experiments that, best she could tell, were not in these journals. There was more. The list of ingredients Killian had written down ought to be accompanied by directions. There were books from their quest that Regina had taken home. And she would definitely be the one to help put strength of will into the spell.

She chewed her lip nervously as she drove the car to Granny's, going over what she would say again and again. Regina would likely be there eating breakfast with her son. Belle's step-grandson, crazy as that was to think. Henry had warmed up to his grandfather-before the banishment- and -wouldn't he want him to recover? Wouldn't he want his grandfather to be his link to his father, and everyone else on his father's side, who he could learn about? That was it. That was how she would get to Regina.

Belle ordered an egg sandwich and waited for the regulars to file in. Including a glum preteen boy who sat with his adopted mother and her boyfriend's young son, and stared at his cup of hot chocolate apathetically.

"Hey," she said gently, nodding to him and pretending to be on her way out. "Ah- Henry, Roland- I'm sorry for- you lost her, we all lost her."

Henry took a deep breath and looked at her levelly- an empty look. "Thanks."

Belle went on, "I'm sorry we weren't able to find a way. A way for her to remove the darkness and live. I know I went on that journey just for that- and I don't know what went wrong-"

Regina leaned in as though to ask her to leave, discreetly.

"Here, Henry. I want you to have this- don't worry about bringing this copy back to the library." Belle set a hardcover copy of Gulliver's Travels on the table. "Your father loved this story. Now I may not have known too much about your mother, I don't know if she was into reading- but your father and I, we spent a lot of time together- during that year you had lost your memories and lived in New York. And I know he would. ...find comfort in a story, at a time like this."

She started to leave-paused- "If you want to talk- about your father, about anything… I'll be at the pawnshop today. Doing a lot of research on how to _recover an ex-Dark One_ \- could really use your help, actually, Regina." She turned and walked out to the car.

Later, at the shop, Belle was searching for something that would have been from Rumpelstiltskin's life before he was the Dark One. The spell seemed to call for that- but she'd known him as the Dark One only, and everything from before, from the person that was before… It had to be centuries old! She had seen such old clothes, once, old clothes of Baelfire's that Rumpel had saved from his childhood, where would they be? If only she knew of some story or piece of music that had touched Rumpel, in a figurative way, from his early life! That would be so much easier to throw into a spell!

The front door was thrown open-not by the company she hoped for. Prince Charming and King Arthur walked in. Charming's eyes were bloodshot; his gait was slower than the hyper-confident Arthur. "Belle! Has anyone been in, to sell anything recently?" Charming asked as they approached the counter. She shook her head.

"Important items are missing from my royal reserve, " Arthur added. He went on and on about a magic bean, as if she didn't know what that was or what it looked like.

Belle spoke to the weary sheriff softly. "Are you -sure you're ready to go back to work, David?"

With a deep breath, he said, "I'm ready to help our guests return to their land, if there's a land to return to. It's what my daughter would do… And you? Are you alright?"

She glanced at her large bell jar on the counter, and the wilting flower within appeared.

"Do you… Want our help, in any…"

"No, no, I'm just looking for an ingredient for a spell to help him, and it's a long shot," she interrupted. "I-I'm the only one who really knew his magic, who knows his-things- and well- I have to keep busy doing something."

Charming's eyes roamed the shop and lingered on a cheap steel cup that was pressed with an old fashioned design. "Ok, if anything, we can draw out the thief that stole their ticket out of here. Can I borrow that…?" he asked.

Belle shrugged. "Sure. It's not really valuable…"

"The Chalice of- Vengeance- a goblet of truth!" David said with a smirk, and Arthur followed him and the patterned stainless steel cup out the door. The wind that blew in from the door was cold and damp. A storm was brewing.

Back in East Storybrooke, the people gathered outside Granny's Diner, worried about how to escape the darkened skies and violent waves suddenly rocking the docked houseboats. They couldn't all take shelter in the same place, especially with their pets, livestock and horses that had been found in the woods in recent days and reunited with their masters from Camelot. The animals were restless with the whipping wind. Camelot's knights, courtesans and laborers alike were nervous, confused, and ready to scatter.

King Arthur held up a decorated cup as he and Charming stood on the steps of the diner, addressing the crowd on the patio. "Drink water from the Chalice of Vengeance and I will know whether you stole our kingdom's last magic bean. First truth, then we will lead you to shelter!"

Charming tried to rub the weariness out of his brow, then his chin. He said to Granny, behind his hand, "It looks like it'll start raining hard... and if it rains and gets much windier, call Regina and ask her to magic everyone to the basement of town hall."

Several women lined up to be first to drink and tell the truth, including subdued Guinevere. One young knave slipped away from the line for a truth serum placebo -Grif. Once noticed, he panicked and stole a horse, riding away.

Charming was hot on his heels- then, thinking he could round up Grif and horse at the valley in the woods that he was heading towards, he hopped in his truck. Arthur climbed in the passenger side and they sped through an alley, onto the gravel road and then off-road up into the forest. They headed off Grif and the galloping horse at a clearing - he was quick to out-maneuver them and ride up a steep narrow trail through the trees.

"Hurry before he uses that bean and really gets away!" Arthur said. Charming had driven these trails and all over Storybrooke in searches for villains past. He whipped a U-turn and gunned the engine to get them from the clearing to a valley where it was all too easy to hide from the world. Pressing on the gas, he almost got them caught up to Grif, who looked behind frantically, with his old world cloak snapping in the wind.

They couldn't chase him back and forth between this long ravine and the clearing forever- there wasn't anywhere else apparent for him to go, in the dense woods. Grif saw the driver of the truck climb out its window, with Arthur grabbing the wheel inside! He couldn't imagine what were they doing!

The young man rode along the ravine's edge, to the tree line, then yanked in the reins to turn back and ride along the other side of the ravine. He figured they would pass him going the opposite way, then get stuck.

He didn't expect the prince to climb onto the truck bed and stand up suddenly with a long 2'x4' outstretched! He tried to duck- but the beam was held out over the ravine and right before the horse! It hit Grif squarely in the chest and threw him down. The game was up. The truck braked just in time and rumbled back to town with him pinned between the two royals in the cab.

Grif kept his silence in Storybrooke Jail. If this were the role that his king needed him to play, the role of the unbreakable prisoner and scapegoat, he would play it to the end. Outside, the Dark clouds were parting. The impending storm seemed to have passed.

Belle dragged a cauldron out of storage and into the middle of the pawnshop. The spell to help Rumpel was coming together - she'd found some fairly fresh cedar root and had unearthed the old brown tunic of Baelfire's that was already imbued with magic. It was draped carefully over a display case- if this spell worked, could Rumpel forgive her for destroying the garment in the process?

She tensed as the front door opened and- Regina and Henry came in, closing and shaking off their umbrellas. Regina had brought a black briefcase along- the reference books from Camelot! "I... take it you want to compare notes," Regina said awkwardly.

"Yes! Regina- I don't know if we met Merlin in our missing weeks, but we at least brought back his journals!" Belle rushed to pique the busy woman's interest. "I've found his writings about the first Dark One, about a woman he lost to the Dark One and his theories about how to limit the Dark One -or even rehabilitate him, to get her back- and how the sword got into the stone, to protect the world from the capability to destroy all dark or all light magic…!"

"And I… have found what may have been Merlin's handbook of magical items and rituals," Regina said carefully, flipping through a fairly modern hardcover volume before her and shaking her head. "Or, it might have been someone else's book written with the help of... visions of Merlin, just as Arthur claimed to have had such help."

"So with this ingredients list," Belle said, holding up Killian's notes, "What would be the process?"

Henry gently elbowed his adoptive mom, encouraging her to lend Belle a hand just for the sake of lending a hand, as he tended to do. Regina glanced it over, then took her long tailored slicker off and draped it over her arm. She rolled up her sleeves. "Looks like there's a multiple-step process in this second spell book here, that mentions some of those ingredients… I'd been wondering about that... but first I'll need to see him. See how far gone he is."

Belle took a step back at those blunt words, but gestured for her to go to the back room where her husband lay as though asleep.

"So, I guess. ... we can try and save my grandfather, even without- the savior-" Henry said.

"There are many ways to be a savior, dear," Belle answered. "My mother -she actually died protecting me, from the ogres when they hit our castle. When I was a teenager, she saved me."

"If Grandpa wakes up- are you still together? Do you still love him?"

"I don't know… how... to _stop_ loving him," Belle slowly sounded out the words she had struggled to accept as true, for a long time.

"Last I saw him he was sword fighting my mom in a fictional… universe." he said dryly.

She felt like any explanation given at Henry's level would be incomplete, but for the sake of hope in this dark time in his life, Henry needed some explanation. "It's like -if you had a friend who was in a coma and may have brain damage. You want to be a good friend, even though he probably will wake up acting like a completely different person. ... than you have ever known. And there's a chance that if you help him now, when it's toughest, you'll grow to be even closer."

Henry nodded, pursed his lips. She hadn't answered his question about how they could still be together, after all he did. She could just see him growing jaded.

With the silence, she could hear Regina hissing hateful words, in the back room.

"You asshole! What if you die and we're all stuck here and-you were the only one to ever find ways past the cursed town line! What am I supposed to do?"

"Regina! What are you doing?" Belle exclaimed, running to Rumpelstiltskin's side. Belle figured he could be influenced by their voices. A pause. "Getting something off your chest huh?"

Regina Mills scowled at the still, peaceful man on the cot. She concluded, in a low tone, "Damn you, if this works, you'll really hear it!" She went back to the iron cauldron to get started.

"Rumpel-be strong!" Belle whispered, kneeling by his head and smoothing his limp brown hair, caressing his head and shoulders. "I am here for you!"

She heard the bell on the front door chiming happily. "Ah, 'ello Madame - young man-" She heard Killian say.

"We're in the middle of something. Do you mind pickling at home?" Regina asked. Belle emerged from behind the heavy curtain and saw her dark eyed friend holding a jar of dirty water.

He responded, "This isn't for pickling! It's-"

"I meant you! You're pickling yourself with drink and we all have to smell it!" Regina shot at him.

"Storm water!" Belle gave Killian an abrupt hug. "For the spell! Thank you!"

"It's nothing, love. Now do you have-"

She held up the Cedar root and the worn old child's garment of burlap and wool. "Something that touched Rumpel before he was the Dark One."

"No!" He started. " _She_ made it! It's all that is left of hers!" Killian gestured for her to set down Baelfire's shirt gingerly, then unsheathed the cutlass at his side. He would not let something of his long lost lover, Milah's, be sacrificed for Rumpelstiltskin-even her son had sacrificed himself for Rumpelstiltskin. "Here. All too well I remember how he once approached me on my ship, too scared to fight. My cutlass pressed against his neck and still he just whimpered in fear..." He rested the blade inside the cauldron. "He was just a cripple then."

"Well, I'm impressed," Regina said. "You found a way to contribute even without Emma leading you around."

Killian's black-lined eyes flashed with anger. Little did Regina know that Emma intended to do just that, for the rest of eternity. What could he say?

"Please don't fight!" Henry got between them, anxious to stop the adults in his life from reverting to villainy. "This is about saving someone from the Dark One magic- what my mom died for- and you know what she would say. -That we all have something to contribute."

Belle held up the glass cylinder with the crumbling, black stem and leaves inside- only one petal left on the rose. "He's almost out of time!"

With that, the three adults began the spell, following each other counterclockwise 'round the cauldron, with their hands held above it. At Regina's instruction, they willed the ingredients to meld together, and bubble with the heat of a magical flame that Regina had conjured under the pot, suspended in the air so it didn't burn the floor. She couldn't know what Killian knew with the promptings of Dark Ones past- that the catalyst must be the original Promethean fire. Lucky for them, Emma had rekindled this fire not long ago with her incredible hope and belief in the future.

A vision of the dead- scaly blue green Nimue and ghost white Emma appeared beside Killian, each with a hand gripping the small brown box. Together they lifted the stone lid.

"You'll see, he has a future, he deserves to live," Emma said to him.

"You'll see, you'll get your revenge!" Nimue said.

Killian saw the bright orange flame within the box feed into the fire that was licking the bottom of the cauldron—and the lamps in the narrow little shop flickered and the ingredients really began to churn. Belle, Regina and Hook walked 'round with outstretched hands quivering with the force of concentration and will. Henry watched in wonder, for he had never seen his adopted mother use teamwork like this before. She would typically try to solve things with her magic alone -at times it was scary, at other times intriguing. He was never sure if he should support her in this or implore her to quit magic. It always came with a price…

Regina checked the reference book again and hurriedly said, "It's ready!" It took the three of them to lift the cauldron up and over Rumpelstiltskin- as the steaming gray contents poured out, they turned to ash and dust falling on his chest.

Wrinkled eyelids flew open. The older man gasped.

"Rumpel! It worked!" Belle threw her arms around him in a tearful hug, then helped him sit up.

"Mr. Gold!" Henry knelt beside him happily, looking him over. "How do you feel?"

Mr. Gold was overwhelmed -and feeling a bit cold and hollow. He gave his wife and grandson eager hugs and kisses on the forehead. "What HAPPENED?" he asked.

"Your heart- it was almost completely black- we tried to take all the darkness out of you and put it in that hat, and then it went- somewhere else-! And you didn't wake up for more than six weeks!" Belle couldn't explain it all at once.

"Where's the Sorcerer's hat now?" he asked.

"Destroyed, Rumpel, gone! Just like the dagger!"

Rumpelstiltskin was floored. Relieved, confused, unsure about who and what he was now-and disappointed that it had come to that point. He'd come to the point of his death- and he hadn't found a way to hold onto both his life and his power. He looked up at Captain Hook and Regina in bewilderment and fear. How would he stand against those who had every reason to be his enemies? Weren't they still enemies? He tried to stand, shrugging off Belle's supportive arm- and he fell back onto the cot. His foot! It was broken again! Henry brought him a cane from the refurbished spittoon that held umbrellas, staffs, canes and a decorative sword.

"Why did you wake me-I'm nothing now," Rumpel asked, looking down. He couldn't be moved to eat or drink or even listen to them as the questers tried to tell the broken tale of their quest. Killian realized what a pitifully easy vengeance he would have, as soon as this empty shell of the crocodile was left alone...

"Well, we'll leave you to rest… and recover," Regina said, and she, Henry, and Killian moved towards the front of the store. Regina swept the hardcover books as well as the old worn journals from Camelot into her briefcase.

"There must be something that would get him to feeling like himself," Killian muttered to his friendly nemesis, Regina.

"There is… something," she said, nodding towards a china cabinet in the corner. "A long time ago, when the Curse of this town was breaking… I had to steal it." She raised her eyebrows and spoke softly. "I actually had to _have someone_ steal it."

"What?" Henry asked, giving his mother an insistent, wide-eyed look.

"I… do owe you an explanation Henry. It was back when this town was waking up…" They went out to their car and talked.

Killian examined the china cabinet. Some _thing_. He and Regina had both tried stealing Rumpelstiltskin's love away, in long past efforts to get to Rumpelstiltskin. Was there a _thing_ that represented his love, perhaps, that could be just as important? He felt drawn to a single porcelain teacup- it was just like the others except for a small chip. And, it seemed to have the vibration of something that had magic thrust upon it! Killian wasn't sure how he could sense that. To keep his cover, he would have to have someone else steal it, indeed. Maybe then, Gold could be roused to really fight him!

He headed out, to find his thief.

A strangely giddy vision skipped along the road ahead of him. "A plot, a plot, as thick as pea soup, a scheme, so it seems..." he sang. The spirit of dark Rumpelstiltskin taunted him, leading him towards the Rabbit Hole bar.

"Goddamn, you're still around! Bloody simpering reptile! When I finally kill you will I be rid of this demon?" Killian spat.

"If not for us, you wouldn't be this close to revenge!" sang the vision, as it blurred into a hooded and unrecognizable Dark One.

Killian restlessly repeated to himself that if not for Rumpelstiltskin he would never have known about the Dark One, never would have gotten involved with Emma's family, never would have sought out this curse of living an extraordinarily long time, and never would have become the Dark One himself.

"You never would have met me," the ghost of dark Emma added, sadly. She walked alongside him quickly, trying to catch his eye. Killian privately wondered if that would be for the best. If he hadn't met her he would have been stuck on Milah, someone who inspired him, loved life, didn't throw it away for self-sacrificial things… didn't expect him to be good at all times. He would not have been distracted from his deepest desire. He wanted to duel the mortal Rumpelstiltskin again and again, and to beat him sorely each time! He wanted him to die a thousand deaths!

At the Rabbit Hole, the jukebox played Van Halen and a surprising number of Arthur's knights crowded the pool tables and dartboards. "It's hoppin' for a Sunday, eh?" the bartender joked. A woman with a tight red T-shirt and short, piecey hair paced with a pool stick, talking loudly to the newcomers who kept breaking away from their games to flirt with her. The only woman there. Lily.

Killian ordered rum as his favored thief was apparently busy. He overheard boisterous newcomers and merry men talking about a different thief.

"What got into young Grif, huh?"

"He was hungry!"

"Beans, beans, the magical fruit!" Lily laughed.

"I guess he rather none of us go back home, than have to live somewhere where Arthur is king!"

"We could just wait for his magical shit! And then grow a magical beanstalk or bean-hole or whatever it is."

The men laughed.

"You think that's bad?" Lily chimed in. "I would rather completely change than live under a king - or", she said in a high, prissy voice, "a prince and a princess."

"Oh, what can you really do?" shrugged a burly middle-aged man with a mug of beer.

"Believe it or not, I almost killed that Princess Snow White once," Lily bragged. "Almost got her- smashed her head against a rock! Almost torched the whole field where Snow White and Prince Charming were!"

The men oohed and jeered.

"Yeah right!"

"How'd you manage that!?"

Killian left, as it seemed Lily would be surrounded for a while. He could seek out someone more handy- this Grif fellow, or bumbling ol' Mr. Smee.

Killian and his beloved vision took his newly claimed car out to a quiet neighborhood near the docks, to check in on Smee first.

Daisies and roses. Leaving Main Street behind, they left the smell of daisies and roses in the many repurposed flower arrangements on doors, in large pots, hanging off street lamps, decorating porch railings… All of Storybrooke showed its grief over Emma.

"Easy on the clutch!" Emma reminded Killian from the passenger seat. "Try putting it in neutral first!"

He grinned at her and parked on the street.

Walking to the docks, he saw a thin column of smoke rising from a thick part of the woods on the hill. The smoke of a lone cook fire. Far from the trails, far from the campsite where Robin Hood's raucous gang could be heard most nights. He followed the smell of smoke from someone's early dinner, thinking it would lead him to what he really needed to keep his cover- a true outsider.


	6. Lost in a Memory

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Once Upon A Time, there was a wondrous story arc...

Chapter Six

Lost in a Memory

Lily parked the Rebel in the shadows. She dismissed the distant howl of ghosts or demons that she heard, thinking herself oddly intoxicated. She climbed up the steps to the lower level entrance of the Sorcerer's Mansion as the moon rose in the night sky. She jiggled the handle just so to get in, amble down the long marble hallway in the dark, and then collapse in exhaustion by the warm fireplace in the den. "Mom, I'm home!" she called out.

"Hi, I'm right here my dear," Maleficent said, waking in her favorite easy chair in the shadowy corner. She had fallen asleep while reading a thick book on Arthurian legend. The mansion was full of books and magical items that deserved more research, one of the reasons that Maleficent had been squatting there for months, as she'd waited for Lily to return from the quest. That, and it was luxurious, secluded, everyone left it alone. She conjured and threw a fireball towards the white marble fireplace, to get the fire going again, and looked lovingly upon her rambunctious adult daughter who lay face down on a fur rug. "Were you out with Will?"

"No mom, remember I told you, we're just friends…" She rubbed her head, mussing up her hair. "There were a whole lot of guys at the bar, they were all ripping on royalty and -as much as they ripped on their king, they were trying to get _me_ to say I would do something about it. And they were, like, making fun of me, too."

"Sounds like one of Regina's old tactics," Maleficent growled. "Trying to provoke you so that you'll transform and do something you regret! Like that time Regina cut your hand-!"

"Mom, I'm not... like that, now. I can control it a lot better…" Lily propped herself up on her elbows to face her, though her drooping eyelids and fuzzy drunken feeling would soon give way to sleep... She looked forward to dreams of flight, and of simple dinners with Will in Camelot. They had hardly gotten together since coming back to Storybrooke. Maybe all she would have now is dreams of the two of them…

"Still, I'm going to call on Regina in the morning," Maleficent said. "She may have been an enemy -or a friend - on your quest, who knows! But even with all the amnesia going around, I should be able to get something out of her. A motive, maybe, for provoking you. Crowd-stalking you. Yes, that's a real thing Lily! Maybe she wants someone killed without having to dirty her hands…"

Lily rolled onto her back, not yet ready to theorize what was going on. She wanted to spread her arms and think about the long afternoons in this mansion with Will, her mysterious, street smart stranger, and the day that he had held her arms as they were swept up in a storm. Up into a cyclone, up into the sky, spinning about and not letting go of each other.

They had landed in the forest clearing of another land, and as they had explored, he'd told her his story.

Longing to hear his voice again, Lily dragged herself up to her room and called his cell phone. "Hey, you're up! Where are you…?"

"Just... on a supply run. I've been hanging with Robin Hood and the fellas."

"Will, tell me again… about us," she said, drunkenly.

With a warm chuckle, he began, "Once upon a time... there was a thief named Will Scarlet... _clever_ bloke! He traveled from the Enchanted Forest to a land unknown, with his first sweetheart Anastasia, for a chance at a new life -of freedom and love." Will loved telling oral histories, to whoever would listen. He found it easier to talk about himself in this detached way.

"Will and Anastasia found themselves in the topsy turvy world of Wonderland! There in Wonderland _he_ was still a thief but at least he spent his days and nights with Anastasia. _She_ was tempted... by comforts, luxury, power, fame, and magic -and she saw her life with Will was going nowhere.

"Anastasia... did _horrible_ things to gain- magical powers, and the throne! But despite all that, Will still loved her.

"Years later... she could admit to herself she _wasn't_ happy and- she again let Will into her life. He tried to remind her that she was a _good_ person before she was ever a _powerful_ person -and that _good_ person only wanted attention and love -and for her, the ends did not always justify the means. The two fell in love all over again, and got married!"

Lily listened in awe. Rarely would anyone share the tender moments of their past with her- but Will would, whenever she asked.

"But Will was still a thief, always a thief," her friend went on, "and always a rolling stone. Anastasia was always a bit of an opportunist…. And Will was always a rambler. His curious nature... got him into an adventure that was more than he bargained for- and he traveled to another, different world, this time by accident.

"The adventuring young man stumbled through a portal, and before he knew it- he got away from Wonderland, and there was no way back! He lost Anastasia, but escaped his reputation, and his minor crimes that had kind of snowballed and followed him. In this new world, he kept running into old enemies, and new ones- for it was a place of many expatriates from the Enchanted Forest.

"Will found something to remind him of Anastasia everywhere he looked. He went to the library to be alone one day, and found a book -that had all the famous stories of Wonderland! Ah, one of these stories was about the Red Queen! A merciless young woman who had married for money and power. She had come to Wonderland striving for a lucky break, like her stepsister had had when she, happened to capture the heart of a prince- 'ats Cinderella- and **she** got everything any girl would want. This story about Princess Cinderella, and her wayward stepsister who became the Red Queen, was a story that left out Will Scarlet.

"He knew then -that he was stuck- in a world without magic-without his wife -and he lost the will to be a good example for her, or to try and steal the riches that would provide for them. That had been his reason all along." Will paused. When he had first told this story to Lily, he'd stopped a while to look at her, and in his eyes she'd seen the reason he didn't have the energy for a relationship with her.

He continued, "Will just wandered aimlessly in the woods, where he ran into a band of thieves that he had once known -and double-crossed. Somehow he was able to make amends with all these enemies, because they were as homesick for the Enchanted Forest as he was, as desperate for a familiar face. In their loneliness they found common ground.

"Will met someone else who was lonely, who frequented the library in search of adventure and resolution but- from a safe distance. The librarian, she knew all the happy endings of every story but hers. Belle. Belle was young and beautiful- but not as young, naive, and idealistic as she used to be. She saw in Will... a broken heart, like her own -she thought they could mend them together. He did his best to make her laugh and smile -he tried to have a normal romance. What they liked about each other was just the feeling of something new.

"To his horror, Will found out that Belle was still married- to an exile who wielded magic and power- even in a world without magic! This dark- hearted older man manipulated people into letting him back into the protected little town of Storybrooke. Belle had banished him, her own husband, to save the world from his increasing appetite for power, for spells and skills and treasures that could only be accumulated in this hidden little place called Storybrooke. But, despite her brave expulsion of the Dark One, he found a way back in, a way to trick her into giving him his power back.

"The Dark One returned... to mend **his** ailing heart, not with a _relationship_ -but with a tremendous effort to rewrite history. With magic, he thought he could give himself, and every dark soul, a fresh start. A chance to switch lives with good people and totally forget the unfair past. So Belle's husband didn't try to win her back, but instead wished her and Will all the best. He knew it would not last between them anyway."

Lily had memorized this long story of his, couldn't help it, because no one had ever spoken to her so eloquently, intelligently and frankly. She wished she could articulate her own story as well. "Then what?" she encouraged him.

"Of course there were other forces at work in this strange town," he said, "some of them standing in the Dark One's way. He had always struggled to... travel through time and across realms. He needed **help** to rewrite his story, and cast himself as the noble bearer of light magic. But the old sorcerer had no experience with light magic -he had only been grasping at straws, ideas of its more ordinary forms: true love, selfless sacrifice, and also, the deepest waters of the subconscious...that flow between all the realms. The 'world without magic' still had the slightest traces of magic left in objects imbued with memories, and in other hidden corners. So the Dark One had to activate them, in Storybrooke.

"First, the Dark One captured the Author of magical stories, and gained his eager participation in his plan to turn the world upside down. Then he tried to steal a pen of power from other powerful people in Storybrooke, those who were constantly on guard against the darkness. He cornered Will Scarlet and roughed up the thief, enlisting his stealthy skills. He needed more than someone who could break into the mayor's office and snatch a locked box. He needed... a traveler's advice.

"Will was to tell about how he hopped realms- but he could not describe his recent journey from Wonderland to this land -it was an accident, it was all a blur. He had no details for the Dark One- and so he was lifted off his feet, cast down into the gutter, bleeding and useless. Awaiting the end... of this tangent of his story.

"The Author had waited on, eagerly, for inspiration, for a deliciously wicked and modern story, and no one in this town of enchanted expatriates had better inspiration than The Dark One. He had lived hundreds of years, he had died and been to the underworld and back, and now his misdeeds were catching up to him.

"Rumpelstiltskin lay on the floor of his store- panting, his left arm twitching and his heart beating irregularly behind his clenched hands. His last hope for his ailing, darkened heart was to start over, with complete, obliviating collective amnesia and a carefully set up life story. So The Author spun the Dark One's tale of heroes turned to villains and vice versa, binding everyone who had been born in the Enchanted Forest to a twisted storybook.

"Trapped in this storybook, the bravest souls were now living injured, defensive lives, and the criminals and misanthropes of their little world were now righteous, verging on victory."

Lily remembered following Will on winding trails, as they scouted around Camelot, and he had recited this tale. She appreciated his explanation of the time they were swept up in the Heroes and Villains realm of story.

"The Light One rode about the woods and countryside saving people from ogres! A knight, with no allegiance but to good!

"The witchy queen, Regina, lived here as a thieving nomad.

"The wicked witch, Zelena, was confident and beautiful, dressing up for her wedding day with her loyal fiancé, Robin Hood, who was a reformed bandit.

"All of this, meanwhile… The Light One came home to Belle and their baby each night. and yet... he still was not completely...content. He felt, deep down, that there was more to his life. A terrible, repressed part, having something to do with his first son.

"Secretly, _everyone_ felt that way and couldn't put their finger on it. In this reality, Will was rich! and reunited with Anastasia- for this storybook drew characters from different realms! -but, somethin' still worried him, in moments of silence. He and Anastasia were... wealthy courtiers from far away, benefactors who benevolently granted wishes and doled out monies to poor hopefuls, wherever they went. They rode around in a modest carriage and Anastasia charmed crowds with her warm smile and generosity. They handed out treasures from their foreign and almost forgotten land, that Will guarded from thieves and pirates.

" ...Only slightly, did she suspect, like a fleeting shadow in the wee waking hours, that -she had once been an evil Queen who manipulated the wishes granted by genies, instead of herself making people's wishes come true. Only vaguely, did Will suspect that there was, in his past, a long stretch of time when he- when Lord and Lady Scarlet were separated. The faint memories started to resurface…

"They started to resurface on the day that... one member of their community returned -the only one who hadn't been born in the Enchanted Forest and who didn't have a role in this new story. Henry. The next author!

"When the people were waking up to the falseness of their lives - more so the current heroes than the current villains who clung to their sense of loss and resentment. Henry battled the Author of Heroes and Villains, young as he was. That Author, Isaac, fought for the status quo, and his successor, Henry, the boy with the heart of the truest believer, fought for the world he alone could remember. A world in which almost everyone was -family, and the darkest souls were still growing closer to redemption. In the recesses of their minds, the people grew more uneasy-their past lives were dawning on them.

"On the day that Lily the fearsome knight was about to confront evil queen Snow White about her prison guard assignment, the day that Lord and Lady Scarlet were to attend the wedding of Robin Hood and the wicked witch, the day that Grumpy, head of the royal guard of dwarves, plotted to steal away the lovely nymph named Nova from her coven of chaste forest folk, the day that Princess Cinderella threatened to torture the townsfolk in a desperate search for her baby's unknown father, who had left only a shoe behind, this was the day of the final battle for this world. On this day the characters of this story all heard the whispers they'd been hearing from their dreams: that their world was not real.

"And then, the battle! No one watched -as the epic battle between surface-level solutions and authenticity was fought. No one saw the next Author, and his mothers from a past life, face down the so-called Light One and the Author of twisted tales.

"The Light One struck down the child author and his mother from a past life, the bandit Regina who had never had a chance to become- the evil Queen. But, with the blood of that unlikely savior, Henry was able to pen the line that wrapped up this story, and the ordinary magic of Regina's sacrifice proved as powerful as any magical ink. 'And the work of Isaac was undone,' Henry wrote, with that ink of blood.

"Then, In a flash, Will had remembered how he had traveled between realms before. When he'd stumbled from Wonderland to Storybrooke, someone had tampered with the storybook that held together his reality, and ripped out the pages that concerned him. He had been removed from Wonderland 's story and from Anastasia -then dropped in a place where stories are read, not lived.

"In a flash, Will was now torn from this Heroes and Villains story, from beautiful blonde Lady Anastasia Scarlet's side and dropped back in Storybrooke."

Lily and Will paused to wrap their heads around it all. "And here we are," Lily said dryly. Will had thought his rambling on would have had her snoring by now- but she was intently listening.

Will described his life after Heroes and Villains: "The young thief...blinked in the sun

… the sun filtered through a dusty window in the public library... as Will and Belle came to consciousness. They were sitting together behind a reference desk, holding hands. It was too painful then. They had just lived out alternate lives with their true loves, and then all those events were undone. Will had to know if these events were also erased forever. He took off towards another library -the magical keep of great import, hidden in the ultimate sorcerer's mansion on the hill. Belle understood. She left for the pawnshop she'd been tending in Mr. Gold's absence - looking for the man she'd missed all along.

"Mr. Gold lay there on the floor, clutching his heart. His plan was foiled, his end was near. The power to change stories was wrested from the mischievous Isaac by the noble Henry, who had always been prophesied to be Gold's undoing. Now after hundreds of years of dark magic, his personality was dying and the darkness was taking over. He didn't want Belle to watch. As a last ditch effort to save him, and save the town from The Dark One who would be unhinged from Mr. Gold's personality, Belle got the help of the ultimate sorcerer's apprentice. The apprentice, seeing the Dark One for once in a vulnerable state, used a most powerful wand he had inherited from The Sorcerer to draw the Dark One magic out of him.

"It had never been done before - but then, no other Dark One had lived so long as to reach this crisis, and have their cruelties catch up with them. The apprentice was exhausted by the effort of wielding this wand to do what had never been done: draw out the Dark magic and leave a heart clean, pure, new, with a blank slate.

"And… the apprentice would lose his life to this effort of saving Mr. Gold, and then resisting becoming the new Dark One himself.

"The darkness, meanwhile, was not done, and it slithered swiftly through the sky in search of a host. It greedily would take Regina, one of the saviors who had been trying to overcome her tendency towards evil- instead it took the other savior, Emma. Emma threw herself in front of Regina as if it were her turn to make a sacrifice.

"See, Emma had not yet discovered her own propensity for evil because most of it was cast out of her long ago, before she was even born. If the Darkness had not thrust itself upon Emma, it would have gone on killing those with light magic- and next sought the girl whose soul was darkened back then: Lily. The woman named Lily was the sacrifice made for Emma's goodness, as a babe. This time Emma was sucked out of the world and into the Dark One cavern in the Enchanted Forest, taking the Darkness with her; last time the apprentice had made such a transfer, Lily had been sucked out of the Enchanted Forest, taking the darkest capacities of one unborn soul with _her._ "

"How do you know all this?" Lily finally interrupted her friend with a question.

"Belle filled me in on some of it," Will had said quietly, "not long ago. We still talk. At least, I'd like to think we do. And some of this, I've pieced together through careful study of the Storybooks…"

Lily grew a little uncomfortable as her deeply thoughtful friend turned his focus to her. Usually he was curt and foul mouthed, but when he dived into a story, it was like he was artfully writing their memoirs. Lily wasn't ready for her own memoir.

"In Storybrooke, Maine," Will said, as the hour grew later and later, "Lily was just starting to get a new lease on life, after 29 hard years in the world without magic, without parents, without love, bearing the burden of _two_ souls' capacity for selfishness and evil. She spent a lot of time at the bar. But one evening, she was drawn to the imposing, abandoned mansion on the hill at the edge of town, drawn to the false panel in the wall that led to a secret passage to a library full of powerful storybooks.

"After such a trip as-experiencing an alternate universe in which she was a knight, who could turn into a dragon, and then awaking from that story as though from a dream-Lily wanted answers. Just like Will, the wandering vagabond who thought he would squat there a while and stare up at the stacks. Blank books and half-written books and experimental writing in some, each of these storybooks a possible world of what could be, what could have been.

"Will of course wanted to commiserate with Belle, but really he envied her, because _she_ was taking care of her true love. Though comatose, he was a blank page. Where was Will's blank page, for a new beginning with Anastasia? Somewhere she was missing him, somewhere she was trying to live a good life, even while having power and her red royal position and- well, her first husband dead, her second husband disappeared.

"In his loneliness, Will found that he could confide in Lily... and pore over these mysterious volumes of the Sorcerer with her. Every story had the balance of good and evil, and some variation of transformation or resurrection. Amid these cosmic themes people's lives were tossed about like bubbles on the waves - both Lily and Will were used in other people's stories, and it hadn't worked out for them.

"Lily sought a clue to who her dragon father was- Will sought love. He had once found a rough draft of Isaac's that had never come to be, an unfinished scrap of a story about the evil Queen abandoning her royal life to be set up with a new soul mate, and finding that soul connection with Robin Hood, a prince of thieves. Where was such a possibility for the Red Queen and her homeless, rambling husband? He found legends packed away in the dusty corners of the library that mentioned dragons of destiny, but where was the truth about Lily's father and her shape shifting mother, Maleficent?

"Will told his fellow researcher that this was the grand collection of a great sorcerer... who had prophecies and visions of _dragons_. This sorcerer saw the future of two warring kingdoms, Camelot and the heathen highlands, as a battle between a _red dragon and a white dragon_. They had this discussion after a long afternoon of reading, as Lily poured herself some whiskey. Maybe this sorcerer would know about the dragon she sought…"

"That brings us to the day we went to Camelot, Will," Lily said into the receiver that was covered with drool. She smiled. "I've been trying to piece together what's real from fairy tales for years. Ever since I was a teenager. Then when I found out I was _really part of_ a fairy tale... well, let's just find Merlin and make sense of it all."

"Aye, maybe we did find Merlin… maybe we still have yet to find him," Will acknowledged. After having this discussion about how to find Merlin, over six weeks ago, the two of them had stepped outside, felt the winds of a cyclone tearing through the green ominous sky, and held each other, barely able to hunker down and not be blown away. It was definitely something summoned by magic. They had looked in each other's eyes and understood that a magical cyclone would take them to a world that had magic and this was as good a chance as any -they took their chances and ran towards the storm, letting themselves get swept up in a raging tornado. The tornado had lifted cars and buildings off the ground, carrying Granny's diner, a dog, two bikes, and two thieves hanging on to each other for dear life, up into the churning clouds and into a twisting portal to another realm. Lily and Will got where they wanted to be, quite by accident. They later set up camp in the Enchanted Forest, using wide fallen pine boughs and rock piles. They got their bearings atop a ridge, and looked out at a suspiciously shining castle.

Lily remembered seeing Camelot and then... then, just Emma's death. The quest had been taken from her mind - from everyone's. She was farther than ever from making sense of it all… Even with concern knit into her brow, she drifted to sleep.

On the other side of town, Belle Gold tried to get some rest in the large wooden house that had been hers and her husband's, in the large wooden bed that had been hers and his, kept up by memories that were hers and his. Rumpelstiltskin had convinced her, after hours of back and forth between them, to stay here alone for a while. She hadn't been able to get him to leave the shop, and she worried that now he never would. In a world with no more Dark One, Rumpel found reasons to be isolated and afraid.

A sliding sound - from somewhere on the first floor! Belle held her breath. Someone was here. Her body tensed and she forced it to move slowly toward her bedroom door. She hoped it was Rumpel- and that he'd changed his mind-that he was home to recuperate and make things right again! But if it wasn't him, she had to do something! No magic was handy to protect her, and she doubted the local sheriff was in a good state of mind to help her. Belle picked up a dusty cane of ebony to swing at any intruder, then tiptoed through the house. She looked around a corner, down the stairs- a window in the front hall was open! There was a man- trying to climb in the window!

She mustered her courage and flipped on the light.

"Will!"

"Belle!" He blinked in the light. "I'm so sorry, I didn't want to scare you! Just trying to leave as quiet as I could!"

"Just leaving? Oh, and with what?" She squinted -he had a full backpack on, and one leg in, one leg out. Apparently he was back to his thieving ways!

"Just some things I'll need. See I been checking in here since we got back from Camelot-"

"What? The place was locked up, security system was on! And this house is protected by old magic!" Belle came down the stairs, with cane still raised.

"Yeah… but remember you gave me the key? So I could come over any time?" Will got down from the window and held up a simple key ring with a brassy key on it she recognized. "And… I assume you don't want Mr. Gold to ever know that," he said. "So how 'bout he doesn't find out, and you forget I was here? Since I… didn't manage to slip out without waking ya."

Belle hadn't been asleep, but she was tired enough that her brain was foggy. "We… got back from Camelot…?"

"You forgot I ever went on that journey to Camelot, didn't you?" Will asked, cocking his head to the side.

"Huh- when did-? I'm not sure I ever knew, Will! My memories…" she looked down and rubbed her eyes. "There was a search party for Emma. If others came, who weren't in that search party in Granny's Diner… I just don't know."

He shrugged his indifference, and made for the front door. "If it's all the same to you, I'll just let myself out the _door_ then."

"You could've asked! " She said, with an exasperated sigh. "You could have asked me, if you needed a place to stay or- if you needed money, or anything!"

"You were a little busy with _him_ -and, I thought, it would be upsetting for you to see me, in the midst of everything. But if we're still- friends? After this..." He nodded towards the open window. "Well, maybe I'll ask. Next time I... need a book." He smirked as he looked back at her.

She let her guard down and smiled. "Still friends. And I'll still be tending the library. So... yes, I'd like that, ah... you know where to find me."

It was awkward between them. He left. Belle checked all the window fittings and locks, armed the security system again... and reflected on her relationship with Will for the first time in -it felt like a long time. He was scrubby on the outside, flippant and a little difficult at first... but inside he was a brilliant aspiring orator. She missed his tales from his many travels, his thoughtful inquiries about the lives of everyone else in town, and the way he would practice telling a story to her over and over, never writing it down. He had said that he valued memorizing things so that they would be attached to a person, and not just lifeless words on a page detached from intent and interpretation. Better for words to be attached to a person than a person attached to, and controlled by, words. Belle still found that idea of his especially poignant, having lived as a storybook dictated. She sat up in the dark master bedroom alone, thinking of the all- too -brief relationships in her life. First promised to Gaston, then to Rumpelstiltskin, then dating Will. There had hardly been a time in her adult life when she considered herself single- and now, it felt so strange to face a future in which she might actually be alone.


	7. Tests of Courage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Who will save Robin Hood?

Chapter Seven

Tests of Courage

At Mr. Gold's pawnshop, he was experiencing a break-in as well. He was wearily nodding off in the back room after fighting the sleep of a normal man, long forgotten after years of being the Dark One, when a window shattered. Mr. Gold cautiously put out the oil lantern and edged along the wall to the back exit- he saw glass shimmering on the floor- it had been a window high in his workshop that someone broke! Mr. Gold was now fully awake, hyperventilating as he changed course to leave out the front. They were near! It could be anyone, seeking vigilante justice against him in the dead of night! Then he heard splintering wood- the front door was being hacked at, taken off its hinges! He felt surrounded. Something hit him in the dark- before he even knew anyone had entered. He hadn't been quick enough to grab a weapon- but what hit him was just a rope. A rope thrown over one shoulder, then another heavy rope thrown over his other shoulder. "Stop!" he cried out in panic. The ropes tightened around him, and someone grabbed his neck until he passed out from a lack of oxygen. That someone was following very careful instructions to steal something and haul him away.

When Gold came to, he found himself tied awkwardly to two poles, lying on them on the forest floor. His abductor had dragged him here on a travois. How? He heard a horse snuffling and stomping, not far away. He felt cold eyes watching him. Waiting until it was light to try to move, he focused on calming down his breathing and his scattered fears. Just before dawn, he craned his neck to see a red headed woman out of the corner of his eye, brushing the horse and looking off into the distance. The binds were loose enough- he could actually wriggle free, in the moments when she faced away. Mr. Gold crumpled into a sore, boney old man, making himself small so he could slip away as skillfully as anyone with a broken foot. He looked ahead at the travois tracks deep in the earth, which would lead him along the way he had been dragged. But the woman and horse caught up to him too quickly! Fierce blue eyes looked down on him.

"So much for that test!" she said, in a very strong and familiar accent. Due to her accent and dress, she must have come from Rumpelstiltskin's land! "You didn't even see the staff lying there. Just thought you'd take off without a weapon? And don't ya figure that I laid traps along the way?"

"That was a test? Who are you, what do you want?" he asked, baffled.

She swung her leg down, hopped off her horse and picked up a walking stick.

"Fight!" she commanded, and jabbed his chest with the stick. "Fight for your life!" She swung the bough at his left arm, then thwacked his right. He screamed as she raised it up high and prepared to jump with the force of another swing.

"I can get you magic! I can get you money! What do you want?" He cried desperately. He dodged her blow from above.

"No ya can't! Your magic's gone, everyone knows that Rumpelstiltskin. And I've already had a chance to raid your shop, thanks very much." The wiry young woman nodded towards the saddlebags on her horse that bulged full.

Rumpelstiltskin backed away as quickly as he could, fumbling while reaching back behind him for any weapon. She had said that he passed by a staff- keeping his eyes on her, he managed to grab a walking stick that lay in the brush! "I can get you answers! Information! What do you want to know!?"

"Already have me source. I'll get just what I need if I first deal with you!" She flipped her long mess of red hair back and tossed her staff from hand to hand as she strode towards him. The staff struck him low- in the gut- then pressed against his neck, tilting his head up to the sky. "Seems like you need answers. So how about you get 'em out of me?"

Rumpelstiltskin gulped. Usually he could goad an enemy into talking instead of fighting, and talking led to trading. "Y-yes I want answers -and I would beg of your help- I would buy your help- with a few ingredients, I still have the ability to do a- beauty spell!" he gasped, as he tightly gripped the staff behind him.

At this the warrior woman gritted her teeth and furiously shoved her staff forward against his throat with both hands - he backed up, took a knee, ducked low and to the side, then swung his stick at her feet. She fell forward with her momentum from pushing against his neck. Rumpelstiltskin struggled to stand tall, leaning on his walking stick. He pushed his sweat and shoulder length hair out of his face, then got ready to just stand on his good foot long enough to strike her with the staff.

The woman's calloused hand caught the blow above her head.

In a treetop a few yards away, Killian watched them through his spyglass. He chuckled and passed the spyglass to his playful vision of Emma as their legs dangled from the tree branch they sat on. "It's finally getting good!" They saw Merida wrest the staff from Rumpelstiltskin.

"That's the spirit! And for tryin," Merida said, "I'll answer one of yer questions. I am to be queen Merida. Queen of the strongest clans."

"A strong queen indeed! You don't want a soldier like me, queen Merida. Believe me… so how about saving yourself the trouble of... dealing with me, and just let me go back to town?"

"What do you have to go back to, Rumpelstiltskin?"

He thought of the shop. It still had safeguards - of Dark One magic. So how did this woman get in last night? She didn't seem to have magic, hadn't used it for anything else. She'd had help! He wearily suspected that the Dark One hadn't really gone away. Everyone said that Emma had died but the Dark One- must have persisted, and assisted that break in! Rumpelstiltskin had so many questions now, and the only way to get anything out of Merida was to pass her little tests!

"Fight!" she ordered, coming at him with two staffs swinging. He backed up and grabbed the black horse's bridle, hard. He twisted it tight so as to choke the animal, staring down Merida with a look of challenge. She gave a particular whistle and the mighty horse shook off his grip, bucked and galloped away down the trail. "I know you can fight dirty Rumpelstiltskin! But you're no match for Angus."

"Would you ever take a hostage?" he asked quickly, just dodging her swings. His panic grew as he thought of Belle- Merida seemed to know plenty about him! "Is that fighting too dirty for you?"

"An innocent hostage- that would be no better' n the lords kidnapping my brothers!" she blurted in anger. "An' I'll get them, good gods, an' yer going to help me!" She knocked him off his feet with one stick and jammed the other stick's end against his throat as he lay on the ground.

Rumpelstiltskin figured he could anger her and then get her to talk, but how would he keep his strength until then - enough strength to escape again?

"Show me how!" he cried desperately.

The young woman narrowed her fiery eyes, eased her shoulders, then lowered the makeshift weapons. She helped him up, with a stern look- training could really begin.

"Why are you pitting people against my daughter?" Maleficent paced the floor as she spoke with Regina Mills on an ivory rotary telephone."What are you up to? What happened between the two of you in Camelot?"

"Lily went to Camelot?" Regina asked.

Maleficent nearly melted the phone in her hand with the heat of her fury.

"Look, my memory's as fuzzy as anyone else's. If there's anyone you should ask about our absence, it's"- Regina stopped herself from spilling Hook's name, as much as she wanted to gossip with her old friend.

"Who?"

"The man who claims to selectively remember... I'll get you his number! But first, I may need your help…"

"Of course you need something. It's always about you."

"No, it's about my boyfriend, Robin."

"Awww, Robin... I'm glad you finally took my advice about getting a pet!"

"I could easily trap YOU as my pet lizard again, if you don't listen! Sending men to hit on Lily would be the last thing on my mind- but Robin! Maybe with our magic combined we can help him..." Regina's voice betrayed how helpless she felt. This was the sort of conversation she would have with Emma- but Emma was gone forever. She glanced at Robin, who was staring out the window in the other room, bundled up in a gray hoodie.

She began with an understatement, "Last night was rough. There was-"

"Your night was rough! The entire round table ganged up on Lily, at the bar! That was organized by someone, Regina!"

"She's a big girl, she's surely dealt with the attention of many men before -Ask her. -BUT Robin is being hunted! By a flying banshee, or something! I tried everything to ward her off!" Regina rubbed her eyes, weary and afraid. "The only thing that kept the bitch at bay was a torch, until dawn..."

"How old-school. " Maleficent commented.

Regina leaned against the kitchen counter, thinking of what this could mean. The creature appeared last night, when the moon was full, and was kept from carrying off her beloved Robin just by the threat of a broom on fire. None of her magic spells had any effect, and she and Robin had not been able to hide in the basement or her magically protected vault. That did remind her of other magical creatures she'd faced-like an insatiable wraith. But this winged menace was new to her. It had clawed at him blindly, eyes closed, long wet hair in its face. Flew with tattered wings into the sky at dawn- nocturnal like a vampire or gargoyle.

"Do you think the creature appeared because of the full moon- and will it be back tonight and tomorrow night then?" Regina asked. It had been pale as a ghost, its long thin body and limbs scantily clad in a shredded corset and skirt. "And-It was dressed like a truck stop whore. Does that mean anything?"

"No self-respecting monster would dress like that!" The women shared a laugh, surprising themselves. "It means the monster has a male chauvinist master somewhere...?" Maleficent suggested.

"Then when it comes back tonight, we'll trap the thing to draw out its master!"

A pause. "My dear, the dragons are keeping to themselves at this time. You'll still have to be a lot more helpful to my family, for us to help your family," Maleficent asserted.

"But I-! I've kept you alive!" Regina said, trying to keep the desperation in her voice hidden with anger. "I made you part of my Dark Curse... so that the magic of this town would sustain you, in whatever form you are in. Don't tell me you thank Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum for bringing you back from the ashes!" She referred to their old partners in crime, Ursula and Cruella de Vil, with a frustrated breath. "No one comes back from the dead!- Unless I have preserved them." She felt the wounds from preserving her late fiancé, Daniel, all over again. Daniel had not been successfully re-animated with magic like Maleficent...

"Duly noted. All the more reason to keep my daughter out of whatever danger you're in."

Lily was in the kitchen, making waffles and coffee on the large stainless steel stove. She set out breakfast for herself and her mother on the marble island, and when they both sat down, she demanded to know what that call was all about. Her fairly new, close relationship with her mother was built on honesty. Refreshing and-difficult for both of them. But it meant the world to them.

Meanwhile, Robin Hood decided to stop worrying and go to a friend who may be able to help him with the monster that was likely coming back for him. He walked to the local pawn shop with his six year old son Roland skipping along at his side, grateful that at least the children were safe from being carried away- it had shown no interest in them last night, and so Regina and he had been able to lock the kids in the house and flee.

They found Belle Gold in tears, looking about the empty little store that she had just unlocked. Everything appeared to be in order, but-

"He's gone!" she said. "Yesterday he insisted that we should... have some space, or something, and today, not a word, and..." She dabbed her face dry with a handkerchief. "He must have just taken off!"

Roland gave her a consoling hug.

"Would you be ready to have him back in your life, if he hadn't left?" Robin asked her. "Would you be ready for your husband back, when he had lied to you so...?"

"No, no, I just wanted to be here for him as a friend!" She said, slowing down as she realized how inappropriate that sounded, considering that he wanted space.

"Well, I don't know about him, but I could use a friend," Robin said, with a hand on her shoulder. He played with Roland as she looked through the books in the back for any reference to the thing on wings that had chased him all over town last night. The search led them to the library, where Belle had been mixing public and private library books quite liberally behind locked doors. She didn't like what she found out, translating and cross checking myths, legends, and spell books of warning.

"It flies at the full moon's zenith, when the ferryman lets it loose," Belle summarized quietly for Robin. Roland was reading a picture book by the window. "Since the ferryman cannot leave the ferry, and the Lord of the Underworld cannot leave his realm... the Fury collects souls from our world. Souls that are supposed to be dead..." Her mouth was too dry to finish. She figured it wouldn't help anyway to tell him that the Fury would not stop until it had collected a soul.

"Why am I its target? What happened in Camelot, that would mean my death? And how did I...?" Robin blanched. "Maybe the answers will be waiting for me in death. Please, Belle, be good to Roland, be there for him if he is ever too much for Regina to handle..."

"Don't just say your goodbyes and give up!" Belle eked. She hugged him tightly, hoping that it was not for the last time.

"I know, I know, and Regina won't let me anyway," he said. "We delayed the beast until its curfew at dawn- with fire. So Regina was thinking we'd stop it with a cage of fire or what have you. But from what you learned- it has a reason for hunting me. Maybe I deserve to be dead. And it will just find a way to hunt me next full moon, if I delay it during this one."

"Yes-or another Fury will be sent if you stop this one." Belle stepped back from him and looked with close attention on yet another friend she could lose- without her recent memories, without Rumpelstiltskin, and without friends, how would she go on?

In a quiet clearing, just a few miles away, Rumpelstiltskin's mind was still with drowsiness. Merida and her horse napped while her student struggled against ropes and chains and sleep deprivation. She had beaten him again, bound him again, and was so confident that he would succumb to weakness, she could rest easy in the middle of the day. He had gotten nothing else out of her, and his thoughts were tired from going in circles: she must have had help with the Dark One magic of the shop, she didn't need his help and couldn't be bought, she had someone else as a source of information- and there was still a Dark One out there, escaping recognition. The Dark One persisted somehow, he figured, as Rumpelstiltskin had thought he heard in the back of his mind, in quiet moments alone. He heard the dagger of Kris whispering to him still. Where was the Dark One, and what did she- or he- really want?

A scabbard rested against a rock just a couple yards away. Surely Merida had left it there to entice him, and to begin another sparring round. If they were moving on to swordplay, he could really get hurt- he suspected Princess Merida didn't care. He would rather sneak away, get back to Belle to warn her that the Dark One lives- and together they could research who Merida was and where she came from. They could find a way to reason with her- stop her!

Rumpelstiltskin slowly made his way over to the blade, and frayed the rope that tied his hands behind his back on the edge of the scabbard, careful not to cut himself as his hands broke free. Chains clanked as he moved, for they tethered him to a tall aspen tree. Only so many links to bind his feet, not his whole body- and one of the links must be weak because Merida hadn't used a lock, just forced a couple links together to make the loop. She wanted him to try and escape, with the weapon this time.

Instead Rumpelstiltskin searched for the weak link as silently as he could. Still, the wily young warrior woke, spotted him- and was in his face in a second.

"No rest for the wicked, eh? You had your chance!" She waved a sharp short sword in a circle in the air, then steadied it before him. He glanced at the dull scabbard lying there, then at his feet. "Sometimes you have to fight in chains," said she. "Fight for your life!"

He felt weak, almost ready to give up. "You could kill me. Then I can't help you. You could maim me. Then I may be useless in your quest. Or you could consider me useless now, which is the truth…"

Merida moved swiftly even in a tight old world dress, slicing away his sleeves and the middle of his shirt. She was inches away from closing in on a blow to his heart-but he didn't crouch down to get the weapon.

"Tired of fighting against somethin- yea, and my father taught me that men need something to fight for." She was prepared for passive resistance. From a bag sewn to her side, she delicately removed a porcelain teacup and balanced it on the tip of her sword. A decorated blue and white cup. A cup that had once been chipped-

Rumpelstiltskin's rage shook him like the quaking aspen he was chained to. He kicked up the chain that was tight around each ankle but slack between him and his anchor, and used the slack to quickly encircle Merida. She tried to jump out of the way but was still caught up in his chain. She lost balance- he caught the cup as it fell. In a second she was up again, with both blades pointed at him, and with a surprised grin.

"Hey! That's the spirit, when you find something you care about-" she said, cut off by his deft attempt to catch her swing of the sword with a length of chain and entangle her again.

"How did you know about this?" he demanded, cradling the cup with his sorer arm.

From Killian's perch not far away, he watched and laughed. Killian was surprised to hear Dark Emma laughing with him and elbowing his ribs. He loved the company, whether she was a ghost or vision or fractured part of him, but the Emma he knew in life would not laugh. She would consider this torture. She wouldn't put up with his crap.

"I like Merida," Emma said. "She knows how to motivate people. Knows a lot about family-and music, and a fair share about magic. She just never gives up!"

"Aye, love. But she's come too close to revealing too much already," Killian mused. "And… she did say she'd never take a hostage. If that's what it takes…"

"You'll take her heart and make her," Emma said, with a flip of her long white braid. "You'll control her carefully- I know you won't kill her or the hostage. Just scare him."

"How do you know I won't kill someone?" Killian asked. His future as a Dark One might very well be fraught with crimes, for which he could evade consequence.

"You stopped me from crushing Merida's heart, back in Camelot-it would have been the first murder that the darkness pushed me towards," Emma said, leaning over and nuzzling his ear. "But you guided me towards mercy and light-and now I'm here to do that for you." There was still doubt in her tone.

Below, Merida and Rumpelstiltskin fought for hours over the cup, always precariously held in his grip or hers as they circled each other and tripped on the chain plenty. He did wrest the scabbard from her, but wasn't able to parry for very long before she would relentlessly point out the fatal flaw in his fencing or footwork. He got not another word out of her until dusk.

"Your freedom," she said, lowering her sword and pointing it at the weak link in the chain. They wiped sweat from their brows, as Rumpelstiltskin cautiously knelt to examine the link with just enough gap to force it open. "You've worked for it."

"I was a soldier, long ago! And they didn't train me this hard!"

"Long ago, you would have done anything to get out of it, wouldn't ya? Now, Rumpelstiltskin…" Merida raised an eyebrow and looked at him levelly. He didn't like her knowing tone. He pushed the loops of chain off his feet and hobbled away down the travois trail with his precious cup and scabbard. He was sore everywhere, exhausted, bleeding from little nicks and cuts that Merida could have made even worse if she wanted-his wrists and ankles and ribs were deeply bruised from being bound. He didn't care if the way forward was full of booby traps, nor that Merida didn't seem to be done with him. He just had to get to Belle. As much as he had to get away from the realization that Merida was leading him towards: that the old Rumpelstiltskin would have hurt himself to get out of her tests.

Regina and Robin tucked in little Roland after assuring him the monster wouldn't get him. "Your daddy is a monster fighter," Regina said, wrapping up a bedtime story that she had just come up with. "And I am too. We'll trap the monster, and come morning it will disappear." They sat on his bed silently until Roland fell asleep.

"Can you find a way… so he gets back to the Sherwood Forest, every summer break?" Robin asked. "Because I assume you'll be putting him in school…"

"No, Robin," his beautiful girlfriend insisted, "I won't let anything happen to you! We already decided, we raise our children together!"

She went downstairs and shouldered the weapon she had just bought from Lizzie B's Armory. Out on the front steps of their house, the Merry Men were ready, similarly armed with the flamethrowers she had treated them to.

Later that night, the light of the full moon they anticipated shone from behind clouds, as a terrifying howl seemed to rip apart the sky. All of Storybrooke and East Storybrooke heard the screaming Fury that blew trees down in its wake, speeding from Gentleman's Park to the merry men's empty camp, through the woods and above the town, screaming a name in its own garbled language. Its bat-like wings carried it fast to the mayor's two-story mansion that was surrounded by an armed guard like a mobster's compound.

But the trees and lampposts trembled from the wind of larger wings. Robin and Regina looked up - a black dragon bigger than their house was circling their yard! It clawed at the flying Fury- even with the height of two men, it was no match for a dragon!

"Friend of yours?" Robin yelled to Regina over the noise.

"I'm not sure!" she yelled back. The dragon didn't have quite the same face or proportions as her friend Maleficent. Whoever it was, it caught the Fury in its claws and flew away with it.

The edge of town wasn't far as the black dragon flies- that was where knife like teeth nearly bit the dragon's feet off, and, letting go of it, the winged guardian took an impossibly forceful flying punch to the gut. The plan had been to roast the Fury, but now the wind was knocked out of the dragon. She was out of practice when it came to mustering a fire breath, and for the moment she had no breath- she landed on her bleeding feet for a second near the gravel road and watched the screeching hellion jet back to town. Meanwhile, the people of East Storybrooke watched the skies in horror- a ghostly white creature, followed by a coughing dragon, both flapped their wings so forcefully the marina was rocked by waves.

"Dragons!" Someone shouted.

"Gear up men!" King Arthur shouted with a grin. "Grab thy helm, gird thy loins, and follow me!" The knights were prepared for this moment- Arthur had told them there was a beast that would be unleashed. They had swords, crossbows, even a catapult ready. They would prove that they could protect both little towns, and deserved the honors of dragon slayers.

The sky cleared, the moon shone bright, and a fearsome creature whizzed past, darkening the townsfolk's view of its full face. The blind Fury knew the crowd around the mayor's mansion had dispersed - it smelled its prey underground. It dug up the lawn before city hall in a flash, plowing along the path that the underground tunnels took. Hot on its heels were the toothy jaws of a dragon, who ran clumsily, unaccustomed to being so low to the ground. The two had a terrible fight, which rose up into the air, above the power lines at last. The Fury howled and darted between the dragon's wings, shredding them with impossible strength, just as her scaly chest glowed and filled with fire.

The knights were on their way in borrowed trucks and vans, thinking they could take on both monsters- and other help was on its way too.

A great bellowing dragon with white, curving horns flew up to them. This elder dragon looked disapprovingly on the younger, but still helped her fight off the Fury. They managed to fly opposite each other in a circle, kicking the lethal creature between them, and spiral higher and higher into the night sky. The people looked up in wonder- they gasped and screamed when a fiery blast was seen, illuminating the dragons' darkened faces and roasting the whirlwind of claws that was the Fury. Its jaws opened wider than its head was long, but its tattered wings kept flying through the pain. With alternating breaths of fire, the two dragons kept the underworldly hunter caught in a cloud of flame until break of dawn.

Below, the Knights of the Round Table gave battle cry after battle cry and shot up all their ammunition, to no effect. Whether they killed a monster or the monsters killed each other, it mattered not to them. The band of Merry Men crowded around and lauded them for trying to fight the monster- not knowing that they were not just there for the Fury.

Regina and Robin Hood didn't emerge from their hiding place until first light, when the inhuman screaming died away and the messenger of Charon flitted back whence it came. Regina realized that Maleficent was their protector, landing majestically to glower at them. The smaller, injured dragon- she fell from the sky, exhausted, transforming as she fell, into a bloodied young woman- Lily. Maleficent caught her gently in the webbing of an outstretched wing. The dragons took off before anyone could say anything.

Rumpelstiltskin had hardly heard the rumble of battle that shook the town. He made his way to Main Street, Storybrooke- and the sight of him made someone call law enforcement, which made them call a concerned citizen, Belle Gold.

"Help me bring him home, I'll take care of him," she said as he collapsed in her arms. "He wouldn't want to stay at the hospital."

She whispered to him on the ride home, "I thought you just left without a word! But-" She looked over his bruised and cut arms and ankles, darkly encircled by the marks of bondage. She concluded, with quiet rage, "You were abducted- again!"

He tried to tell her that it was a warrior like none he had ever known -and she had had help! Magical help, he knew from the looks of his shop- the front door was whole, and no one seemed to know of the break in. All that dehydrated Rumpelstiltskin managed to say was "Help..."

He let her wash and bandage him in the comfort of their home- but he wouldn't let himself fall asleep. Their home. His problems were their problems, and his trouble with Merida was their trouble. It couldn't continue to be this way. They both were in danger- and he could not protect them like he used to.

He was scared, too scared for his usual filter he had when speaking even with Belle. "Merida will come back for me - and she has Dark One magic, somehow. Whenever I'm alone, I hear the dagger, Belle. I hear it in my head…"

"Merida did this? Who's Merida?"

"We've got to leave town, or go somewhere she wouldn't expect! We're sitting ducks here-for once, my enemy knows things about me while I know nothing of her!" He caught his breath as he looked over his closet- what loose clothes did he have, with no buttons for his swollen hands to deal with? What could he manage to take with them? He had no idea where they would go or for how long they'd be gone. "All I know is she's from somewhere in the Enchanted Forest! So, she'll be stopped at the new town line. By the new Curse."

"Rumpel, the new Curse -you'd rather us transform into trees, than face this person?"

"I'm sorry, sweetheart," he sighed. "I confess… I wasn't listening too closely when you tried to update me on everything, the other day."

She stopped cleaning up all the bandages in the bathroom and looked at him, expressionless. Suddenly she was sweetheart again-when he was apologizing, when he was asking something of her. And every time he had apologized before, he hadn't turned back from his error. He had always left something out, always found another way around to the same old things he wanted to do.

He continued, "Whether it's memory loss or tree transformation… Either way, my dear, I know there's something in the shop that will help us."

"And just us?" she asked, folding her arms across her chest. "We're not the only ones facing a new enemy Rumpel! I am not ready to just leave town- my friends- and our family- is here!"

He didn't have a good answer to that. She set out a quick meal and they ate in silence. Then-

"I'll drive you to the shop. We'll face this Merida together -you think we should be armed with magic? I think we should be armed with knowledge- of anything and everything about her. We ought to be able to find something about her or her family or what she wants, in the library. "

"Thank you Belle. The library might be a decent hiding place. Just -one more thing - do you still carry that gun I gave you?"

She shook her head, disturbed by the possibility of having to take it out of the gun cabinet, load it, carry it loaded -even shoot someone, for both their sakes. She got up then, to do just that. She muttered to herself, "Do the brave thing, and bravery will follow…." Only when the gun was in her purse and Rumpelstiltskin was carefully brought to the car, could he allow himself to sleep on the ride.

Belle had time to think, letting go of her anger towards both Rumpelstiltskin and his abductor. Ideally he would act more grateful. Ideally he would respect how she and her friends had gotten along without him. And want to know all about Camelot, if anything for the sake of knowing her better. Ideally he would trust law enforcement to protect them and they could stay in town to find out what happens- be there in case they could help in any small way. But Rumpelstiltskin wasn't in an ideal situation, and he still wasn't ready to trust, to work with others… Belle could remember Emma's death vividly and he couldn't, so of course he had his reasons to be paranoid. He thought the Dark One was still out there, and that could be his excuse for running away-now, and every time he felt threatened. She wanted him to continue to change, but they had to survive Merida first…

Snow White rang the doorbell of her stepmother's mansion, almost ready to bring Henry and Roland back after baby-sitting all day. Robin and Regina were surely exhausted -and thanks to Henry, ever the mediator between their families, she at last knew why. She had to talk with them -it was always a difficult talk she anticipated, all the times she had stood on this cool, clean doorstep. One time Snow had stood here offering her life to Regina, in penance, because she had caused the death of Regina's mother- and, incidentally, her fiancé, so many years ago. Regina had decided not to kill her. They had found ways to help each other, and still, Snow felt she owed something to the older woman, who had her chances at happiness ripped away from her too many times.

"Where's the kids?" Regina asked, when she and a yawning Robin came to the door. Their hair was tousled and their pajamas seemed to have been put on in a hurry.

"On a little walk around the block with David," Snow said. "They both just love pushing the stroller and making Neal laugh."

"And? There's something else isn't there?" Robin asked, showing the deep worry lines in his face.

Snow took a deep breath. "Yes... I heard there's a monster, flying by night, and it's after you, Robin. And, that dragons were able to come to your rescue last night... but just barely."

"I don't expect Maleficent and Lily to do that again, after the beating they took," Regina acknowledged. "But the Fury fairy will chase Robin again, every full moon until it-harvests a life."

"It will destroy everyone and everything here to get to me," Robin said, with conviction, "and it won't explain why, all we know is that I was meant to die! I'd rather face that fate than turn everyone's lives upside down for me!" He had such conflict brewing in him that was so familiar to Snow White. He wanted to live, to be a parent- but he didn't want to selfishly put that above the community. She felt that she had been selfish, mourning her daughter and keeping her family safe and isolated lately.

"I won't let that happen, Robin," Regina stated quietly. "The monster demands someone's death- and really I'd deserve it more, I'm not needed here as much as you, I would-" He stopped her with a look and a squeeze of her hand.

"I thought you'd say that, Regina," Snow said. "You can be… really noble sometimes. But not this time. This time, you get your happy ending- life! The two of you! You've just started to live together, and to make up for all I've done... I'm going to make sure you get to really _live_ together."

They were speechless. "I'm prepared to give up my life to this thing, and so is Charming, if that's what it takes- because you deserve happiness." She shrugged. "We're just following our daughter's example."

"You have a baby!" Robin protested.

"We've already arranged for the Fairies to raise Neal if needed," Snow said, looking away to try to stop the tears. "And, he'll have his uncle looking in on him..." She smiled at Henry who was coming up the path.

Rumpelstiltskin woke to a car door closing. "I've found an old legend that may be relevant!" Belle said, sitting beside him in the back seat. The car was parked in an alley behind the library, and the evening sun shone beautifully on his wife's wavy brown hair. "In an exposition of Celtic folk tales- one that mentions a Princess Merida!"

"Have we been- you just left me here in the car, out in the open?" He couldn't blame her, he figured she hadn't been able to wake him or carry him inside. "I -we- we don't know when she'll be back. She wanted to let me recover and then force me to fight again! Either it's some big game to her, picking on a gimp… like me… or she's preparing me for something bigger!"

"Calm down honey!" Belle blurted.

"We've got to get to m-my shop-the safe-"

"Ok, it's just a block and a half away…"

"Just drive me there, would you, sweetheart? Er-we'll have to go around the block to go through the alleys." He panted with the pain of just trying to shift in his seat, he was so sore. "My foot, my leg…"

She was cross all of a sudden. "Rumpelstiltskin, you walked all the way to town from the middle of the woods last night. The shop is right there -and no one's on the street right now."

"Belle I can't just- I'm really just a coward, the same as I've always been!" He was hyperventilating. "I need your help! And I need a… corner to hide in…"

She got out, slammed the door and sat in the driver's seat. "You have not always been a coward, don't go changing your story. You told me, Rumpel, how you hurt your foot so you could leave battle, and live to be a father to your son! That's how the whole coward thing got started but- you did it for your son, you did almost everything for your son- or for me! You've been brave, you just didn't realize it!"

She idled the car up to the entrance to the street and drove them across to another dim alley, tossing her notepad back at her husband. It had a heading of _The ancient king Fergus fights the transfigured Mordu,_ over a family tree diagram. _Clans of Dun'Broch_ -Merida was one of the names at the bottom! Rumpelstiltskin had once come across a witch from the isles of Dun'Broch- no one else. There were other names that had to be the brothers she was looking for. If nothing else worked, perhaps Rumpelstiltskin could still locate them with remnants of magic he'd stowed away, to get Merida off his back.

It wasn't long before he found these remnants in hidden wall panels in the pawnshop, as well as the anti-transformation powder in the wall safe.

"Now we can leave town until-she's caught, or the Dark One is found-" He was interrupted by an arrow whizzing past his face, embedding into the wall between him and Belle. Merida was using the same tactic as the other night, attacking while coming in the front door! And that meant she must have blocked their escape out the back preemptively- again!

Merida kicked the front door open further and loaded another arrow in her longbow. "Wait!" Belle cried as they both ducked her second shot. The tall young woman's expression was blank; her determined eyes did not shine.

"No, Belle, the Dark One has her!" Rumpelstiltskin said, as they hurried past the curtain- trapped in the back room. "Get down!"

She motioned for them to crouch just so- so they could hide and see the entrance in a mirror. Her hand was on the gun but she prayed to unknown forces that she wouldn't have to use it. Upon entering the back room, Merida saw the reflection of them crouching, in a large mirror that sat on the floor, with its frame blending in with all the other odds and ends about. The mirror crashed apart with her next arrow. Merida was quick to draw the bow again -Belle was just as quick. She grabbed the rug that Merida stood on and yanked with all her strength. Their attacker fell backwards in a flurry of frizzy red hair- knocked out by Rumpelstiltskin's old projects falling on her! Belle and Rumpelstiltskin hurried to confiscate her weapons and leave out the front, for the car.

"Let's go somewhere safe-the cabin! And then we can call the sheriff!"

He drove them out of town, still hyperventilating, staring ahead.

"Rumpel? You're not going-"

They went faster and faster with his panic.

"Rumpel, I told you I'm not okay with leaving town!"

He handed her one of the bags of anti- transformation powder as they sped towards the western town line.

"Rumpel you don't get to decide things for us, anymore!" She yelled. He wouldn't listen- she had to make him. She opened the passenger door and prepared to jump out.

"What are you doing?" he screamed, slamming on the brakes and swerving to the shoulder of the darkening country road.

She hopped out, slung the bow and quiver over her shoulders, and held the gun with both hands. "I'm not just leaving while my friends are in danger!" she said, and started marching angrily back to town.

"Get back in the car, Belle!" He yelled. "You're just a target- Merida will chase me! She will use you to get me to fight- until we both die!" He panicked, watching her walk further… around the bend. "This is the only way I can protect you!" he called out.

Rumpelstiltskin's love was leaving him, yet again. Sometimes when she did this she wanted him to follow… He sat down hard on the front seat of the car, fumbling with powders and potions he had grabbed that may be able to heal his aching body. If they worked here, in the only town in the Land that had magic… would the effects remain, after crossing over to the rest of the Land Without Magic? They had to. He wasn't ready to leave magic behind. As he felt his muscles ease and restore under the old spells and mixtures, it became very clear to him- he wasn't ready to leave Belle behind _and_ he wasn't ready to leave all magic behind. The times he had visited New York -it was miserable without magic! His place was here, and he had to fight for it!

Belle kept walking. Anger turned to confusion, fear and sadness as she walked the lonely road. He was likely driving off into the sunset without her. She wasn't going to see the world with him. She was dooming herself to a life of fighting other people's fights- heroism wouldn't keep her warm at night. Her hands sweated around the revolver's handle - she had never fired this thing. Or a bow!

Her thoughts were interrupted by galloping hooves heard in the distance. A tall, muscled black horse raced towards her-the rider hopped off and glared at Belle and her weapons.

"Stay back! I know! I know about you -your father. And your brothers!"

Merida's look softened for a moment -then her confusion was gone, and she mechanically pulled out a clear vial, opened it, and sipped the sparkling fluid within. The sun set and Merida was just a looming silhouette, unreachable in her silence.

"Merida of the isles of Dun'Broch! Someone's controlling you aren't they? You can resist them!"

It was too late for Merida to resist- she bent over forwards and backwards, racked by the pain of transformation. The thin young woman was growing, taller and hairier, ripping through her corset and long dress- growling a lower and lower growl. Belle wasn't that frightened by the emergence of another beast. Before her, a towering, huffing brown bear got ready to charge. Belle fired the gun, intending to maim and slow it down - she missed terribly! Belle ran down into the ditch, zigging and zagging away from the roaring bear, and struggling to arm the weathered wooden bow.

Behind them, Belle and the bear heard a car speeding up the road! "Rumpel!" she called out from among the trees. "Rumpel, it's _her_! Rumpel, help me fight her until- that potion may wear off!"

He parked and ran up to the bear, ignoring his foot and the remaining pains. "Hey, it's me you want to fight!" he yelled. He couldn't believe that sort of thing had come out of his mouth! He didn't get the bear's attention until he threw a couple heavy rocks at it. It turned around- his idea was to blind the enemy with a flashlight, or somehow get her back on the road so he could run her down with the car- but all ideas escaped him, in the shadow of an angered, hulking carnivore.

A thumping heart weighed down a large leather case snapped to Hook's belt. It weighed on his heart as well. Hook withdrew, as he turned the great wheel to steer the ship. "Why do you want to haunt me, Emma, I'm a terrible person."

"It's _your_ mind that causes me to be here. Your mind needs me. And I'm glad! I can tell you you're _not_ a horrible person. You're an improving person, always becoming better!"

"Oh? You know I hid things from you, Swan. You know I tried to be that better man, so hard.. that I kept the dumbest things from you."

"You didn't have to…"

"Remember when Ursula came to town? I thought I could hide my past with her… and so things were awkward between us…"

"But now, we share almost all our thoughts and memories!"

"Aye. And don't you care? What I did to her?"

Hook spun the wheel at the helm and got lost in the past.

A beautiful siren, the sea creature Ursula had sung a hypnotic song as she sashayed about on this very deck. She had taken refuge on this ship, from her father, the sea god Poseidon. She was just a girl then. Unaware. When Poseidon came for her, she did find out that Hook was really no friend to her. Not a protector or benefactor.

"You may have fooled my daughter, but I know exactly what you are! You only care about one thing- your vengeance!" Poseidon had yelled.

"I'm not the only one after vengeance!" Hook had yelled back. "You sick your mermaids on sailors, you lead men to wreck their ships and drown! All because a pirate killed your wife once? And so all the rest of the seven seas should care?" He had laughed and glared, and rallied his men to mock the powerful, armored God of the Sea. "I killed her, for all I know! It's been too many sea-witches to count! And I don't care if Ursula never sings again!" He had trapped the young mermaid's singing voice, then, in an enchanted shell. "I don't care if you hunt me the rest of my days!"

He had stolen something precious from Ursula and enraged her father so- that both father and daughter had lunged for Hook. The rage behind their attack had made them careless, weak. The pirates of the Jolly Roger had been able to wrest the trademark trident from Poseidon's hand before he knew what was happening- then trip him, beat him and throw him overboard. Hook had kept the trophies of this fight under lock and key ever since- the magical shell holding Ursula' s singing voice and the long trident that stored Poseidon's power. He had thus ensured the seas were quieter, calmer and safer- just one little family had paid the price.

Emma brought him back from his memories. "Forgive yourself, Hook," she said gently. "Remember, whatever you broke between Ursula and her father- you later fixed! You brought them back together. They forgave you!"

"Ah, but I don't know if _I_ can."

At Granny's Diner, Merry Men took shots and toasted their leader and friend. Robin Hood and Regina Mills sat at the lunch counter, soaking in the camaraderie that came from knowing it might be the very last party for one of them here. They'd had a leisurely supper with the Charmings, talking about everything from bad dreams and parenting styles to past injuries, aches and regrets. The evening stretched on. Robin and Regina linked their arms and held up glasses of fiery whiskey to each other's lips- knocking it back, they tried to summon their inner fire breathers.

"Where the hell have you been?" Regina asked with mild interest, as Killian Jones walked in.

"Just… growing tired of drinking alone."

Robin took him aside to ask, "What do you remember? You're the one who cast the Dark Curse, you retained more memories than everyone else! What can you tell me about -the reason the Fury is chasing me? Anything? "

Killian concentrated. It was surely hard on everyone to think they'd lost their memories for no reason - now, for Robin to die for no reason? He had to give the people something. He saw Emma at the lunch counter, nodding and smiling encouragingly.

"Hook," she said in a breathy voice, "The truth of how he should have died- he can accept this truth. They can accept that I put off paying the price of magic, when I broke the rules… and brought him back from death."

Killian bit his lip. "Aye, mate. You'll want to sit down for this…"

In the trees near the edge of Storybrooke, an enemy was vanquished. A ferocious bear had swallowed the magical powder thrown at her, and had transformed back into a pale young woman mid-leap, falling to a devastating impact. The woman was knocked out by the fall, then tied up, bound to a tree so near the town line that one wrong move upon waking would make her transform again…

After all that, Rumpelstiltskin and Belle finally could let their guards down. Belle wondered if it was possible that they actually made a good team! They sighed with relief and fell into a familiar embrace. She felt like he had more than proven himself to be brave and true-he hadn't known how to beat Merida, he hadn't an exactly calculated plan, he had just given it his best shot- putting his life on the line for her! He had sacrificed his transformation powder, his escape - following her lead, for once!

"My dear, do you believe me now? That the Dark One lives?"

Belle didn't disbelieve him, but she still wanted proof that her own memory of watching the destruction of the Dark One dagger-was wrong! "If that's... true, Rumpel, we ought to go talk this over with our friends..."

His body tensed in her embrace. "Granny's, then? To warn everyone?" His agreeable tone was forced. They slowly walked back to the car. "What if Regina's there? Based on your story. ...of finding the Dark Miss Swan in Camelot... Regina's the most likely to have kept the Dark dagger, and tricked you all into thinking otherwise!"

"She doesn't have the dagger- Regina would have used the Dark One powers by now!" Belle said. She held his hand tight as she drove them to Granny's new exotic location. She explained the situation with Robin Hood that seemed so hopeless, all the while hoping… hoping that her husband would finally care about her friends. Hoping he was ready to join the heroes.

The crowd at Granny's dismissed Rumpelstiltskin as damaged and confused, from his coma and recent abduction. Regina and Robin had all their friends stirred up about the threat of the Fury this night, and they were not willing to rehash the destruction of the Dark One, dear Emma Swan, yet again.

The moon rose higher in the sky. A crowd gathered in Gentleman's Park. The word had spread that Robin Hood of Sherwood would take his fight right to the Fury, that nighttime terror that would haunt the town every full moon.

Mr. and Mrs. Gold had followed everyone from Granny's there, to sit on a park bench and to watch an old friend fight valiantly - to say goodbye. It seemed either Belle's friend Robin or Rumpelstiltskin's former student Regina would be sacrificed, if there was no stopping the Fury.

"I heard about your great bravery," said a voice from the shadows, complimenting Rumpel. He and Belle looked to the edge of the crowd- just beyond the circle of yellow lamp light on the bike path. It was Killian, unnerving them with a lower, more serious tone than they were used to. "So... you fought off some warrior woman? She attacked your shop? I'm impressed."

"Well… I'm a new man now," Rumpelstiltskin said, overstating things a bit for Belle's sake.

"You're still the man who killed Milah," Killian stated gravely. "I'd never been able to avenge her death, because you were… immortal. But now, you can allow me that chance."

Belle asked, "Killian, what's gotten into you?"

Rumpel acknowledged Killian with a sidelong look, "Grief... can drive you mad… Old grief or new grief. It all blurs together, doesn't it?"

Killian said abruptly, "Have you spent one second honoring her memory, in all these years? If you have any honor, new man… meet me at the place she died. Tomorrow. Noon."

Rumpelstiltskin shrugged this off, thinking to himself, _If_ _I have any honor. ..._

"Get your affairs in order!" Killian demanded, and walked away. "Tomorrow we finally honor Milah's memory!"

The sheriff rolled by in a squad car, shouting into a bullhorn that the crowd should disperse. It didn't. Fog rolled in from the lake-the crowd hushed and watched a bobbing head emerge from the water. Up floated the pale, dripping lady with long black hair in her face-the Fury's holey wings shook off the water and flapped forward. The people cowered and covered their heads to block out its scream. It flew towards its waiting prey, the strong, determined Robin Hood, with the force of a shock wave. He and Regina lit up the park with their flamethrowers, nozzles up towards the monster. With all their fuel, and all the fire shot up by the Merry Men, with all the torches and lighters of Storybrooke, could they fight her till her curfew at dawn?


	8. A hero not born, but made

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Who will take the fall?

Chapter Eight

A Hero Not Born, but Made

Lily glided slowly to Gentleman's Park. She was weary from being scratched and bit to pieces last night. Even while recovering under her mother's miraculous care all day, she had been wearily arguing with her. Of course Maleficent wanted a chance to be a protective mother -of course she couldn't understand why she would want to go back into danger and be a hero now. But Maleficent had respectfully let her go.

Now was as good a time as any. Now was her chance to protect someone - Robin Hood, a good man, a good friend to her friend, Will. Someone who had probably helped them in Camelot, as they'd searched for tales, signs, even rumors of other dragons. If Lily could save Robin Hood, she'd have every excuse to visit him and Will whenever…

She looked down with precise night vision at the crowd, their pitiful weapons - at Robin Hood's pained face realizing his flamethrower was no longer working. Princess Snow and Prince Charming were right behind him, holding hands - probably thinking they could solve everything with true love and hope again. Lily stretched her long armor-scaled neck, shook her head full of sleek black horns, and prepared to belch fire at the Fury that flitted about. She was distracted by a piercing pain in her left wing- arrows from somewhere below! King Arthur and his followers were emerging from the shadows -and they were armed to the teeth! Even a two-story trebuchet was being wheeled up the path! Its wooden arm was being pulled back to ready an attack-catapulting spiky barbs up at her!

Lily was hit- caught off guard - but she managed to focus on the faces of her attackers as she fell. Last night she had been focused on the Fury and not the people on the ground. Now the people and the ground were getting closer and closer as she fell, still in dragon form, and she could look on the faces of these men acutely. They were the men from the Rabbit Hole, who had flirted and taunted and goaded her! She landed on her feet and, full of rage, used her growing breath of fire on them, not the Fury.

She could feel a sword overzealously stabbing her feet. King Arthur had evaded the blast- still, most of the people in the park had not. Regina the witch queen turned her attention for a moment from defending her love to drawing all the destructive fire away from them, up into a column of fire in her hand. She then threw it at the howling hellion that had, in that moment, reached Robin and clawed its feet into his shoulders. A strange moonglow was streaming from his body to the Fury's mouth. The Fury had lifted him up as high as a treetop- when knocked back by a fireball, it dropped Robin- and Regina ran to his side to heal him.

Lily tried to get back in this fight, but the trebuchet had launched something else -right into her mouth! She choked and writhed- something hard burst inside.

Even in singed jackets and armor, the men cheered, laughed, and clapped each other's backs. "Got 'er with the fire extinguisher!" she heard them say.

Meanwhile the onlookers screamed and the band of armed thieves shouted, crowding around Robin Hood. Their weapons were useless as the long limbs of the Fury picked off the Merry Men one by one. Will Scarlet held up a crossbow, shaking as he pointed it up at the supernatural force of a creature- he was the last, between it and Robin and Regina. Lily ran towards them, coughing, unable to roar out, "Will! No!"

His aim was true, but it made no difference to the Fury sent to take a life. Will was thrown aside. What made a difference was Regina leaning over Robin and saying to it, "Take me instead!" Its gaping mouth was silent for once as it sucked an iridescent substance away from Regina's aura. It shone in the moonlight- her life force, her soul, was leaving her body and being inhaled, tasted, evaluated by the winged beast. It reached for her as it sucked her in-

Snow White rushed forward to stand between Regina and the Fury. "No, take me instead!" Regina's aura was restored and faded to invisibility - Snow White now arched her back and felt the draw of her soul up to the monster's mouth. She would be sacrificed rather than let Robin or Regina lose their chance at happiness, especially after they had worked so hard to redeem themselves.

Charming then forced himself in front of Snow White. "No, take me!"

The spirit of Emma Swan was frantic inside Killian Jones. He and the braver of the townsfolk looked on, in panic. "No, don't let them do this! Do something-you've got to save my parents!" urged his beautiful vision at his side.

"But your parents are always doing this, Swan! Am I to chase after them every time they put themselves in danger?" Killian asked in a worried tone. Her sad, heavy-lidded eyes said yes.

For Charming, all sensation faded away, and dimly he saw a glowing blur before his body. His life was leaving him for the jaws of the messenger of death. His body was about to crumble- but something was different. He felt the ground rush to meet his head and shoulders- really felt, really heard, really saw and smelled the shadowy, burning city park! Death was not so near, Killian had pushed him out of the way!

The synchronized voices of the Dark Ones come before him coldly chanted to Killian, " _You can't die this way. Someone has to die this way. Get rid of her, she's just another monster in the way_."

"Do something- now!" screamed Emma.

"Take her instead!" Killian said to the Fury, under his breath.

He secretly used his Dark One magic to throw the nearby limping dragon up into the Fury's erratic flight path. Its fanged mouth was still open wide to suck away a life- to the amazement of everyone, that life was Lily's! She was already feeling weak-now she curled into a spiky ball and yielded to the Fury's insistent draw. It clamped its bloody claws around her head and dragged her off swiftly to the lake, which whipped into a whirlpool to swallow them both.

Snow White and David ran to the edge of the waves and wind, crying for Lily to be left out of all this. Killian held them back from the water with a hand on one of both of their arms. "No, wait! Emma wouldn't want her parents to die!" His voice was not heard over the violent waves of the lake, and the Charmings' stubbornness.

In a minute the crowd would hush, the lake would be still again, the fog would rise up around them and the clouds would take away even the starlight. The Golds and the Charmings would stare out at the lake, mystified, for hours more. But Arthur would not wait to celebrate.

"Hurrah! Two monsters gone with one push!" He led his men in a cheer.

Killian forced a grin, and held Arthur's armored fist up high. "You did it, your majesty! Indeed, two birds with one stone! All hail King Arthur!" he shouted. The knights repeated this cheer, along with the Merry Men, and they marched off to East Storybrooke, following their king to a well-liquored party at the marina that Killian would arrange for. The Captain had his King just where he wanted him, striding in front and eager to take the attention away from what Killian had done.

Robin Hood and Regina did not follow, they just held each other tightly. "Let's get out of here before more trouble comes," Regina whispered in his ear, looking to the sky. On cue, the wind whipped about with the flapping of dragon wings. Maleficent was circling the park, looking to provide backup for her daughter again. Regina whooshed herself and Robin back home with magic, before her old friend landed and discovered that Lily had been taken.

The Charmings and the Golds heard a large thud behind them, and felt the heat of a dragon's angry breath. She wanted answers.

Snow scrambled to explain, without turning to face her. "The Fury wanted a life! It would have kept terrorizing the city, until it took a life! It -it needed a life for payment -a good deed done without paying the price! Because Robin saved Regina's life less than a moon ago and he died- -Our daughter broke the rules of magic, brought him back to life - without requiring a price for dark magic! And now it's the first time the full moon shone on us and Regina was going to sacrifice herself for Robin, but Charming and I were going to make sure we paid the price instead, for their sake! We don't know why the Fury took Lily!"

"Now, will people believe me, now that only Dark One magic can explain all this?" Mr. Gold grumbled under his breath. His warnings back at Granny's hadn't been heeded.

The ground shook with the dragon's long, pained roar. Maleficent made waves on the lake with her wings, flying around in a tight circle and thrashing the water with her tail. There was no following Lily-Unless it was her time to go.

The eyewitnesses to Lily's death were enveloped in the smoke of Maleficent's transformation into a glowering blonde woman. "My daughter was not about to die for any one of you!" she growled. "Lily -she's been taken to the afterlife -and it should have been you!"

She clamped her long fingernails onto Mr. Gold's shoulder. "Why didn't you do something?" she yelled. "You must still have some magic! Otherwise you wouldn't have risked coming here tonight!"

"It's a horrible thing, to lose a child, I'm sorry…" Mr. Gold said, gingerly holding her hand with both of his. "There was nothing I could do, besides throw myself into the mix of people trying to sacrifice themselves..."

"But you. ... You owed me! You first gave me hope that my daughter was alive, that made me try to find her!"

"Yes, and I warned you then," Mr. Gold said as sensitively as he could, "that it would bring you pain."

Snow motioned for them all to sit at a charred picnic table together, and go over exactly what happened, blow by blow. "Everyone exhausted their efforts to fight off the Fury, including Lily," Snow White began.

Maleficent's fingers drummed the table restlessly, distracted by memories as much as she tried to focus.

She remembered saying, " _We need to work together, we're both-pregnant."_ Hadn't Maleficent appealed to Snow White like that, so long ago? Hadn't she come to the expectant princess, alone one night, before Lily or Emma were born? Hadn't they both been expecting a child that would be due right at the time of Regina's Curse on the Enchanted Forest? But Snow White wouldn't help her then.

" _The girls' lives are tied together, as they had always been…"_ Isn't that what the Sorcerer's Apprentice had said, about Lily... and Emma? And hadn't they both been lost little girls in the Land Without Magic? Hadn't the world toughened them up, for times like these? There had to be some reason why both girls ended up throwing their lives away, and within weeks of each other!

"It's so quiet and dark, when you die," Charming was saying. "I knew I was really dying! So much colder and quieter than a sleeping curse… I knew there would be no haunting dreams to look forward to!"

Snow White was nodding and rubbing his back. "Now we know, baby, that death feels-somehow more comforting than that sleeping curse! " she said. "Thank you for trying to take that from me- from Regina, from Robin…"

Maleficent snorted. She was glad for the acknowledgement of the fearsome power of her trademark weapon. Worse than death after all. But why was no one quick enough to stop Lily from being sacrificed?

"I would have died if Killian hadn't-" Charming stopped himself. His eyes darted to those of the neutral observers, the Golds.

Belle finished his thought. "Killian pushed you away from the Fury. But he didn't have his life force sucked out instead. Not that we could see. Not like everyone else who went right in front of the Fury." She couldn't deny that this Killian was not the Killian she'd come to know.

"Maybe, in a way, he's immune to all that…" Mr. Gold said. "Maybe old Captain Hook… is the immortal now. And not Emma."

"What, how? Why would -"

"Just ask him," Gold told Snow, with gritted teeth. "Ask him why he didn't let the Fury taste his soul. Ask him why he didn't just stand there and say 'Take Me.' Ask if he was satisfied with the dragon dying instead of him! Ask him if he was satisfied with killing your daughter so he could be the immortal!" He turned to Maleficent. "And then killing your daughter!"

"That's crazy!" Snow said.

"Just ask him and listen- see if he's lying. Or don't you have your daughter's so-called superpower?" Rumpelstiltskin challenged Snow.

Snow White opened her phone- 4 AM. She hesitated. "I- I will ask him, at a- decent hour."

Rumpelstiltskin and Belle left, shaking their heads. People were not listening. They were too tired for pretense. They had every excuse to hole away from everyone, guard against threats unknown, and finally sleep- in their marriage bed, so missed.

"Oi, how do we know it's not that Arthur who's the bloody Dark One?"

A voice from the road- a young man who had been lingering there, waiting for Rumpelstiltskin and Belle to leave. The young man in the black canvas jacket and hood approached them. "King Arthur, he was right rotten to Lily," he said. A glimpse of his face in the lamp light- his big eyes were swollen, wet with tears.

"Will Scarlet!" Maleficent said. If she were the hugging type - she could have really used a hug, from someone else who mourned Lily.

He sat at their picnic table and briefly went over his intelligence regarding the Round Table. The pursuit of dragons, the fight against the Fury-and any and all monsters- for the sake of glory. The promises about "New Camelot." It made them want to talk further, someplace safer.

Maleficent and Will followed the Charmings back to their loft, going over the course of events again and again. Drinking, mourning, reminiscing until dawn. The sheriff was quite impressed with the stranger and thief who he had once jailed for petty crimes. He actually knew a lot about local politics, had some keen insights and good judge of character.

Finally the two mothers cried together, as the meaning behind the intersections of their lives became clear.

"Our girls... Their births were… analogous. Their deaths were analogous…" Maleficent reflected, using a term from her study of literature. "That's how we'll figure out who was really responsible, for both of their deaths!"

"Of course Rumpelstiltskin would want us to think Hook was responsible, they're old enemies," Charming explained. "But still, there's something off… about what he did…" He combed his fingers through his hair, shook off those thoughts, and headed out. "I'm going to pick up our baby from the Fairies."

Maleficent winced at the mention of the order of Fairies that had rejected and opposed her, lifetimes ago. Where were they, in the fight against the Fury? Once Charming left, she nudged Snow White to call the possible culprit.

"Hook...? There's something we must get straight."

He answered the phone with a warm "Aye, love?" The pirate stretched long, and turned away from the sun that spread across the marina. He had already built up an immunity to hangovers, but the Dark One powers surprised him by making the morning after drinking even easier.

"Last night. Did that dragon-really -put herself before the Fury? Or did you. ... try to put yourself before the Fury? I'm a bit confused…"

Killian reassured her, "It's alright, of course it's hard to sort out when your life was on the line. All that matters is that monster's not coming back. Now, have you gotten any rest? Are you reunited with your son?"

"Hook," Snow said in a worried tone, "The dragon was a person! Lily, Emma's friend! Do you remember if she really sacrificed herself to the Fury? Or, what happened?"

"The dragon died. Someone else was supposed to die. But it's best this way, you know it is, lady." There was a moment of loaded silence on the phone. "You thought it was alright to sacrifice Lily before, didn't you? When Emma was not yet born, didn't you and the Sorcerer's Apprentice cast Lily away into another realm, for Emma's sake? I mean, is this anything new?" Bitterness crept into his tone. "I recall… the story goes, the Apprentice had said that Lily was too much evil to be contained, back in our land. Now, without Emma and her light magic to balance her- I mean- the Apprentice wouldn't want Lily in this land, either! Unbalanced, it is. You understand, my lady?"

Snow felt sick. She said goodbye and just cried and cried on Maleficent's shoulder. Something had changed in her daughter's beau! He was not the same man who had so endeared himself to her family. Who had earned her respect, and Charming's and Henry's.

"How could he be so cavalier about her death?" she sobbed.

"Because he pushed her into it!" said the other grieving mother, through tears of rage.

"And how, then, does he feel about your daughter's sacrifice?" Will asked Snow. "I don't know too much about you hero types, but I know you don't let someone die and then say it's better this way." With a couple swigs, he finished off the bottles of various spirits they had been sharing. "And- I know that Captain and King Arthur are working together."

"So-so what happened in Camelot had something to do with those two, pushing Emma into-?" Snow White struggled to work out the analogy.

Maleficent stood, wiped away her tears and runny makeup, and said, "Excuse me… while I kill them."

 

"He'll kill you!" Belle exclaimed.

"I'll be alright! You're so sweet to worry. But-I learned a thing or two from Merida."

"You don't have to go! Just because he said it was a matter of honor, that doesn't mean it's what it's really about!" Belle and Rumpelstiltskin had been going back and forth over the issue of the duel for about an hour. She so wanted to just keep her husband in bed, and keep him safe somehow- it occurred to her that he had probably wanted the same thing, for her! But they were both free spirits, they had to let each other fly sometimes. Belle wasn't sure this was one of those times! "You owe him nothing! And I don't want to see you get hurt," she said.

Rumpelstiltskin got dressed despite her protests. He was driven by curiosity, not a sense of honor or duty to his first wife Milah. Both he and Captain Hook had moved on from Milah years ago. "You won't see. You won't watch. I am going to find out what this is really about, Belle. And I just hope to meet you afterwards."

"You're really going to duel Killian? When our working theory is- that he's the Dark One? You're mortal! And- you don't even want my help?" Belle thought of the gun in her purse. She was a terrible shot, apparently, but she could still do something, if worse came to worse… If Killian would not relent from fighting Rumpelstiltskin to the death, couldn't she at least slow him down?

"No, Belle. You shouldn't have to help me and nurse me and feel sorry for me all the time." They exchanged hurt looks. "Isn't that what you've done, every day since my heart attack?" He fiddled with his tie, changing the knot for the occasion. They had hurt each other's pride. Maybe they needed space-already, after getting back together! He went downstairs for a quick lunch-likely not his last. He explained to Belle as she followed him around, "Merida showed me that whoever put her up to training me -wanted a good fight. If I give that to him, he'll kill me and be happy with himself- for a while. If I don't give that to him…" He closed his eyes for a humbling moment. "Well. I'm just going to get to the bottom of this, even if it kills me!"

Belle understood that he had to do something he'd be proud of. He had to restart his life as a mortal man with a decisive, brave action -and to Rumpelstiltskin, bravery was not just for fights. It was for facing the truth as well. He wanted to pride himself on gathering information, on being the one to piece things together. He wasn't going to the duel for Killian or Milah, he was doing it for himself… she sympathized, also, with not wanting to feel useless.

Belle threw on a housedress and watched him at their door. With his long coat and cane, he was going to walk all the way to the shipyards! He turned back, to speak to her. Gently, with wide eyes that expected nothing. "Thank you for accepting that this is something I want to do-alone. Is there something you want to do -for yourself? Besides worry about me?" He gave her a little smile.

"Do you mean, what I want to do with my life, Rumpel?"

"Yes. Please think about it, and think about whether you really want a life with me. I don't assume that- last night meant forever. So- if I survive the duel, I am going straight to the well where we were married. I want you to meet me there this afternoon…"

Belle's heart swelled with romanticism.

He went on, "If you want a life with me, meet me at the wishing well. If you don't come- I'll know your answer."

The clouds were light, the breeze was warm, the gulls were calling their birdcalls peacefully. Killian kicked back on the deck of the Jolly Roger to enjoy the beautiful day, the day when he would finally quench his thirst for revenge. He had talked and sang drinking songs with the newcomers all night and into the early morning, and even danced with his ghostly girlfriend, to Mr. Smee's accordion. The black and purple dragon flying above couldn't spoil his mood; he had quietly made all East Storybrooke fireproof to guard against Maleficent. The boys would go after that monster when another morale boost was needed.

Now footsteps and the click of a cane were heard on the dock, from a gentleman with brown hair touched by silver, and crooked teeth capped with gold. He had his best three-piece suit on- he was ready to die.

Killian twirled a cutlass on the deck and glared at him through windswept bangs. He tossed Rumpelstiltskin a sword and attacked.

Rumpelstiltskin blocked, advancing on Killian's personal space, jumping down onto the deck off a banister. They parried- shortly his movements became predictable as he compensated for his lame foot, bearing such pain. Killian wouldn't have him blame his handicap for losing.

As Rumpelstiltskin dodged a blow and swung his sword low at his enemy's knees, he felt the adrenaline bolster his strength, his balance- his foot almost felt healed! He rejected the slightest taste of the thrill of battle. It wasn't for him.

The two fought up and down the steps over the Captain's quarters. Killian pushed forcefully on their crossed swords, so Rumpelstiltskin would fall backwards, down by the mast and ropes.

"You could have had her back, you know!" Killian shouted, sharply. "Milah- if you had just tried to fight for her! But you wouldn't, on that day- you waited until she meant everything to me! And then you killed her for no reason!" Killian stood over Rumpelstiltskin, ready to make a fatal blow- but did this man hear him? Did he acknowledge what he'd done?

This man's sword had been knocked from his hand, but he still could loose one of the ties, a tie that held a moveable pulley high above. The rope went slack, the heavy Pulley swung down and hit Killian's head- for the element of surprise was all his mortal opponent had. Killian was down- his opponent grabbed both blades.

"If only you knew how to use those! It would actually be a fair match!" Killian insulted him as his head recovered.

"I know enough…" One blade was at his neck and the other was pointed at him but held high, ready for anything. Rumpelstiltskin knew this was to be a fight to the death - but if he attempted a deathblow now, the Captain would be forced to come out as the invincible Dark One! So far it had been better for everyone that this Dark One was lying low! Rumpelstiltskin avoided testing his theory about the Dark One for now. He quoted Regina, "Still, Someone once told me, heroes don't kill."

Killian laughed bitterly and kicked the old man's kneecaps with both feet. He rolled out of the way of the swords as his enemy fell. He had the upper hand again-this time, both hands on his kneeling enemy's throat, instead of the hilts of swords, because it was that personal. And to his dismay, he was shown fear and helplessness instead of anger and struggle.

"Please stop -I beg of you!" Rumpelstiltskin gagged. "Please- you've won!" he spit out. "The old man- dies today! I am -a new man- now!" He looked up at Killian, with oxygen starved red eyes, filling with tears. Hadn't Killian seen his heart, along with everyone else who watched the Apprentice suck the darkness out of him? He whispered, "My heart- isn't the one that killed Milah! It's blank-!"

Emma Swan pulled on Killian's arms. Nimue stayed his hands. After a moment, he could let go, catch his breath. " Yes... And that may make you useful..."

Killian had him get up, and walk the plank -not out to open water, but back to the dock. With his sword point at his back, he took the Crocodile on a little walk.

Maleficent threw a boulder into the ground, then circled around to land in the cemetery. She breathed fire upon a stencil she had made on the rock, and looked over the hasty flame-licked tombstone that she'd placed in a shady, isolated part of the town cemetery. Revenge was still not hers- it was surely Dark One magic that had deflected her destruction of Captain Hook and all those in 'new Camelot.' She had nearly exhausted herself this morning trying to get revenge- but Lily deserved a memorial service, too.

She had invited the few people who cared to a quickly planned funeral this afternoon; three bouquets of white lilies were being brought in. The service would be there in the shadowy corner, as far as possible from Emma Swan's marker on the opposite side of the graveyard. It would still be hard for people to separate the recent tragedies.

Snow White and her husband, David, showed up early, pushing the black buggy with baby Neal up and down the rows of stones. Then Regina, her boyfriend, and the two children between them.

Maleficent shrank herself to human form to receive condolences.

"Lily was ... an intriguing person. She had spirit," Regina said, hugging her friend. "I wish I could have gotten to know her better."

"Are you sure you don't just... wish you had more of her blood? For your magical ink?" Maleficent surprised herself by bringing up anger over the past. The blood of someone harboring such darkness as Lily was- it was an ingredient for the special ink needed to change stories, and not just record them. The sort of stories that Regina's son, the new Author, was destined to write.

"No-Maleficent!" Regina was startled. "I don't blame you for keeping your distance since that thing with the last Author. If circumstances were not in the way, we could have all been better friends."

Will showed up with a boom box. "The Sound of Silence" by Disturbd played as everyone looked down at the boulder that read Lily Anderson. Maleficent's shuddering cries shook the very earth.

Snow White looked about nervously - no one else was coming. She and Charming had reached out to Arthur and Guinevere. Implored them to come to the tail end of the service -to apologize or to clarify what happened last night. Anything, to ease the suspicions that Arthur had wanted Lily dead- and to save East Storybrooke from a mother's wrath!

Maleficent said a few words about Lily's life, what little she knew. Lily had been adopted by humans, but kept running away- had already faked her death, out there in the Land Without Magic, severed all ties- and Storybrooke was supposed to be her second chance. Maleficent dried her eyes and swore vengeance.

Killian Jones marched his prisoner up the gravel alley to the back door of his new house. He let the magical boost to Rumpelstiltskin's gait wear off, hoping that his use of dark healing powers would go unnoticed. In the cool of the entryway, past the strange locked door under the stairs, down damp, creaky steps, into the cold of a subterranean hideaway beyond basement level. Killian flicked on the string of floodlights. The tired old Crocodile gasped.

"You know what that is, don't you?" They both stared at the glorious treasure lodged in a stone. Rumpelstiltskin had felt the urgings, throughout his life as a Dark One, to seek out this sword! Its reputation preceded it by far- rumors of men turned to ash at a touch.

"Coward. Go grab it then! Coward!" Killian barked. He nudged Rumpelstiltskin with his sword, towards the shining hilt atop the rough boulder. His hands were shaking.

"You brought this with you from Camelot? Why don't you pull it out?" Rumpelstiltskin asked.

"I read Merlin's writings. This sword wasn't always a sword. It was once a magical chalice, found by desperate souls… only a desperate soul who was worthy could touch it and not die. Only a man who had nothing-nothing to lose, nothing to gain, nothing holding back his heart- that man was Merlin. And he harnessed this magic, at a time when he was nothing- a completely blank slate."

"Excalibur," Rumpelstiltskin whispered in awe. He knew, from the memories of the first Dark One, that the Great Sorcerer had forged this sword. He hadn't known how the Sorcerer came across it, when it had been the Grail. For centuries the voices of the Dark Ones had pestered Rumpelstiltskin to search for this artifact, reforge it, and use it to strike down all other forms of magic besides theirs. But he had resisted because he focused on his own agenda- finding his son. "They say that- it's not a blank slate, but- the rightful leader of the land, who can pull this sword from a stone," he said.

"Yeah? And who's to say that's not you? Go on!" Killian pushed. If the sword turned Rumpelstiltskin to a pile of ash, he had other contenders in mind.

His girlfriend tried to pull this man's arms away frantically- to no avail. His reach was unaffected by all the force that Emma had-she was just a vision. A vision that took to action, rather than mutterings in Killian's ear. She was a vision and a warning, to heed Merlin's wisdom about leaving the sword alone- but she did not change Killian's hatred of Rumpelstiltskin. "If he really gets it-he'll kill you with it!" she cried.

"Just try," Killian said lowly.

Cautiously, Rumpelstiltskin curled his fingers around the hilt of the sword. He could feel its emanating power without gripping it. He figured he could pull on it willingly, and surely die, or this Dark One would no longer have any use for him… and would kill him. He chose his last words carefully. "You're just- a host for the darkness," he said snidely, over his shoulder. "Recovering Excalibur- isn't your idea. Dark magic uses you, consumes you. It uses you to its own ends." He turned to give Killian a piercing look, as he gripped the silver handle and pulled with all his strength.

Belle Gold had been agonizing over the calendar on the kitchen wall. All Souls Day? Thanksgiving? Christmas? What would be a good milestone to look forward to?

"Rumpel. I have some things I want to do. I have to do this on my own," she had said, practicing her speech to the wall. She would use his words, give him what he seemed to want. "All I ask is that you be my friend... until this day. All Souls Day. On this day, I want us to meet here at the well. We'll have a beautiful recommitment ceremony... if that's what we both want. I can tell you that right now- I do want that! And this way you can decide, after you've had a chance - to stand on your own two feet, as a mortal man-" She had thought better of saying that, as she paced about. "To- to earn my respect, the way you are now. And you'll see, we aren't together because of me feeling sorry for you!" She'd wrung her hands anxiously. She couldn't say that either! How could she quantify the time it would take for her to know what kind of life she wanted? And for him to know? She felt like her husband would keep pushing her away, keep pushing for space, time apart… as a way to atone… He would keep doing this until they had passed some kind of milestone and she could prove that the past was past. But how? And how far past did it have to be?

She'd grabbed a plain blue coat and driven to Granny's for an egg salad sandwich and iced tea. She kept going over what she would say- which kept her bottomless fears at bay. He would be there, she had to prepare! Of course he would be there, and not… stabbed to death, floating face down in the bay…! Or tossed into a ditch where no one would find him for days! Or- Belle couldn't think like that.

"Booth. Over there." Granny instructed Belle not to sit at the lunch counter today- she could tell when someone came to her diner needing privacy and advice, and not just sustenance. She brought Belle her order and was as blunt as ever: "You know what your problem is? You keep on giving people mixed messages because you don't know what you want. You need to figure it out and- you need some respect for yourself." She wiped her hands on her apron and looked over the beautifully made up young woman, who had nervousness and indecision written on her face. "That's what you both need," Granny said as she walked away.

It occurred to Belle that the main thing she had to do, before starting her married life again, was earn respect. For once, people could interact with her and not just think of the Dark One - so how would they treat her? Did this town appreciate her attempts to be a good neighbor, a good friend, and a hero at times? Or had everyone assumed, all this time, that she got all her knowledge and resources from being close to the Dark One? Did anyone believe in her, just being herself? And did she?

She thanked Granny and headed out. She wasn't ready -and he wasn't ready- to love, if they didn't first love and respect themselves. As independent, new people. She couldn't meet him at the well because then he'd get mixed messages, yet again! She couldn't stay away, either, because she just had to know if he survived the duel! If he didn't make it to the well in the woods today, then- she would be the only one to care enough to file a missing person report… She had to find a hidden place to watch for him at the well. She'd leave as soon as she knew he lived!

Stepping out, she surveyed the busy little town of East Storybrooke. Women with covered hair were selling eggs, brushing horses at hitching posts; men in plain tunics were sitting outside drinking, braiding ropes and fishing nets, telling loud stories. What could she make of this provincial life? She waved to Henry Mills who was walking by- the quick young brunette boy who looked so much like his father.

Henry was striking up conversation with any newcomer walking by. He had to come up with a distraction- he and his mother and grandmother had a plan. After Lily's funeral, they'd quickly conferenced and determined that if they didn't get through to King Arthur, Maleficent would kill him- and everyone who stepped forward to defend him. Possibly the whole village of newcomers!

Seeing Belle had given him an idea. "I'm just looking for the most beautiful woman of Camelot," Henry improvised, grabbing the attention of a small group of men. "Point her out, would you? Because -there's a prize… we have… for that…"

"Well that's our queen, Guinevere!" Someone said.

"You have to say that, that's the official position," Henry said to the gathering crowd. " But who is really most beautiful among you? I need to see... women and girls by age category, uh…" His face and neck grew red with embarrassment. When he was on the spot like this, his voice was starting to squeak! "See, I am the son of the savior- and our tradition is that I judge who is the fairest... of them all…"

His diversion was working. Snow and Regina discreetly made their way through the back alleys, to the houseboats- they spied the unmistakably dignified Queen Guinevere leaving the farthest one. That meant Arthur might be alone.

Arthur was in the wrong. He was a fool to have launched attacks against dragons, when he didn't have all the information. But Snow White and her stepmother Regina figured he could still be useful. As soon as they had an audience with Arthur, sitting at his cramped fiberboard kitchen table, they lay the gravity of the situation on him.

"She's coming for you."

"Who?"

"Maleficent! The mother dragon!"

" Let her come! We will be victorious!"

"You're wasting your efforts," Regina said, as patiently as she could. "There is a real enemy among us- the Dark One!"

"My daughter took on the darkness but she did not destroy it like we all thought!" Snow said. "Those memories were some kind of trick- just like our memory loss! Now we're close to finding the real villain…"

Arthur's eyes sparkled with wanderlust and wonder- and there was something else there too. A brief look of challenge -or contempt. So it seemed to Regina. "Then the Dark One dagger can still be found," he said. "This is a villain that can be controlled, you see…"

"You want to be a hero, huh?" Snow White asked. "Then stop picking on dragons who mean no harm- and pick on someone your own size!"

"Then help us draw out the Dark One. You're the diversion - we're the reconnaissance." Regina said. "And tell no one! Not until we can be sure of him…"

Quietly, Regina and Snow gulped down their suspicions that they could not be sure of Arthur, either, until he passed this test.

Arthur humbly acquiesced, out of curiosity about the Dark One. He found himself walking into the angled afternoon sun, down to Main Street, to do the bidding of this town's matriarchs. He didn't care for being told what to do. But the two darling, daring ladies who had approached him -they had something valuable- connections. They could even dissuade the monster Maleficent from chasing him- if need be.

He found a markedly unique yellow buggy, left on the road in a line of horseless carriages- and forced open the front door. This was the spot where they said that the presumed new Dark One would not allow trespass.

Just as he sat on the squeaky, faded black seat, he felt angry eyes watching him. Captain Jones was coming up to the car. "Uh-ahoy- mate," Arthur said, turning around fast.

"What are you doing?" the Captain demanded. "No one touches Swan's car!" He had been pulled away from a vastly entertaining game at home. By some miracle, Rumpelstiltskin had recovered Excalibur. Naturally, he'd tried to attack Killian with it- and stumbled and failed. The game was getting the sword of legend from a powerless Crocodile, playing with backhanded, subtle magic. He had let the empty-hearted man struggle to escape from his underground chamber as the cave walls closed in on him, so he would have to drop Excalibur to squeeze through the narrowing passage to freedom. Even now, Killian was missing out on this little rat in a maze that he could control and watch with his magic, without having to show his magical abilities. He had been pulled away to deal with this pitiful puppet, Arthur.

Arthur looked up at Killian's fierce, handsome face. "I have to get used to driving and- didn't you say that anyone from Camelot could use the boats, buildings and cars with impunity?"

"Not this one!" the Captain answered, and picked Arthur up by his throat.

"What's so special-" Arthur choked on the rest of his question. He thought he and Killian were matched for height and strength, but Killian was able to drag him into an empty side street and then transport them away somewhere. So much for the distraction.

When the grey cloud of magic thinned around them, Arthur saw he was in a tight, dank cave- with Excalibur, the sword broken clean in half ages ago- laying on the floor! "You have magic!" he accused Killian, breaking the hold and pushing him away. "You have Dark One magic, then? Why did you hide it from me?"

"What business is it of yours?" the pirate asked gruffly. He could sense that they were alone in the cave-his little rat had really escaped! All the ancient Dark Ones in his head loved to torment Rumpelstiltskin, because he had been the host who wouldn't listen, wouldn't yield to their ambitions. Now he just had Arthur to toy with.

"Well if you have-that- and the Dark One dagger- together, we could forge them back together!" Arthur said. "This sword, my kingdom -it's my destiny to make them whole again!"

"Go ahead."

Arthur paused. He alone had been able to touch this weapon-in recent memory! But what if something had changed in the missing memories? How did it get here, carelessly dropped on the floor of a cave that was lit up by electricity? Someone else had touched it- it was reasonable to believe that someone else was the rightful leader of this land! He sweated as he slowly reached for the sword. Killian used magic to lock the door at the top of the narrow, rocky passage that was the staircase up to his house. He was going to let Arthur stew over the question of his arrogant claim to a certain destiny, for a few days. He would either turn to a pile of dust next to the half-sword- or a man desperate for any role he could possibly play in the restoration of that sword.

Meanwhile, Rumpelstiltskin hurried to the wishing well on the hill, as it grew late in the afternoon. He had escaped with his life and a story to tell about the Dark One- but the only one he wanted to talk to was not there. He waited by the well silently, heartbroken, not bothering to wish.


	9. Plans Diverted

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How dark is the Dark One? How long will his plans be put off, for the sake of family and friends?

Chapter Nine

Plans Diverted

"Thanks for finally rescuing me!" Henry had said as he'd hopped in the back seat of his mother's polished black car. She and Snow White had driven him away from the crowd he'd stirred up on the street. Mostly middle aged women who wanted to be awarded something for their beauty or poise. He'd been getting some good practice flattering women-but he would rather join his mother, Robin Hood and Snow White on their secret mission to scope out the new Dark One.

"Wow, if I were them, I would be ...bored!" he said with a flip of his long brown bangs. "Everybody wants a contest, prizes, something to do!"

"And…? Anyone worthy of a prize there? Any cute girls, coming out of the woodwork?" Henry's adopted mother had teased him. He'd blushed and looked out the window. There had been a girl. Only one girl his age. Soft, long hair, dark eyes, creamy complexion. Leading a horse by the bridle, staring at him...

Henry had cautiously walked up to Captain Hook's new two-story house when they arrived-Robin Hood had been casing the place. David and the dwarves were poking around the Jolly Roger at the same time.

Robin had charted a wise route in through a cellar window- but Regina's instincts were followed instead. She figured they should just go in the front door, because the Dark One really had no reason to guard against the world at this point. There was still a protective spell to deal with, powerful enough to throw Regina backwards from the door handle. Robin caught her. Henry tried to be brave for them and tried the door next- it opened easily!

"I guess there's still some sentimental part of Hook, that would welcome me in," Henry had said. Snow White had cautioned him to stay on the front porch in case Hook came home, and he could distract him. He had pushed his way into the house anyway, curious and stubborn.

They had split up to search the house for clues, while their diversion held Hook's attention. They didn't know how long Arthur could do that- or if he'd even survive his part in all this.

"Hook may have magic, but he's no expert at safeguarding it! Not yet," Henry had said as he pulled out a large iron key ring from a junk drawer in the kitchen. "This is the same sort of keyring that came with the curse you created, mom. And I found that one too! See, I'm not just the lookout!"

Now, with all the adults gathering around, he was eager to try the keys on the only locked door found in their initial sweep- a wood paneled door with wrought iron lock and handle, under the staircase. Skeleton key after skeleton key didn't work.

"Running out of time! Let's try those keys on the shed, might have more luck!" Robin urged. The narrow metal shed out back didn't seem to have the same magical protection of the house. Henry found a stubby bronze key that looked like it would fit the padlock- they were in! They all entered slowly, eyes adjusting to the dark.

"This... is the sort of thing Emma used to recover memories from Pongo once!" Snow gasped. Dozens of handmade dream catchers hung from the ceiling. A small white dream catcher with downy feathers tied close, all around its hoop, stood out to Snow White. A roughly wrapped dream catcher of black branch and many black beads caught Regina's eye. Henry felt pulled towards a hoop wrapped in blue leather, with glistening blue glass beads in its sinewy strings and a whole robin's egg lodged between the hoop and outer strings. Robin gathered all the dangling dream catchers he could carry, and hurried out of the shed.

"This is something of the darkest magic, capturing people's memories and dreams," Regina said, "and we can't put it past Emma to have done this."

"Now we have the clues my mom left, to find out what happened to her! - And Hook," Henry said. Regina waved her hand before her dream catcher with the intention of recovering what was hers- just the salient points. She gasped as the dream catcher glowed and images shone in its center, moving images of herself creating spells alongside Emma- and a wizard emerging from a tree!

Robin pulled her arm- "There's no time for that now, Regina, we've got to get off the Dark One's property!"

Killian paced back and forth, batting away the visions of Dark Ones. Arthur crouched by Excalibur in the cold cave, brainstorming, deliberating, still unaware that he was at Killian's mercy. Zoso was there, stocky and intimidating- he folded his robed arms in front of him and spoke slowly to Killian, "Use him wisely… he wants to escape. He wants power… and he may have some power of his own, that you can take…"

Emma leaned casually against a cave wall, a drink in her hand, her long leather-clad legs swaying flirtatiously. "Don't feel bad about using Arthur," she said. "He totally deserves it."

Arthur jumped up suddenly and tried to frisk Killian. "Where's the dagger!?" he demanded. "Come on! This is bigger than just you or me!"

"That's none of your concern!" Killian shouted. He threw the eager, wild-eyed man down to the ground. "And we're not working on this together- not until you show me you have something to contribute!" Arthur and Zelena had found a way to tether Merlin's magic to Excalibur, after all- Arthur could come up with something to trade for his freedom.

The vision of Emma whispered hastily, "Hook! Honey, something's wrong- the shed!"

He vanished, leaving Arthur imprisoned with his treasure, and finding the metal shed closed, locked -but emptied of all the decorative hoops that Emma had worked so hard on! The dream catchers, the dreams and memories of all questers and all Camelot-gone! And his cover was surely blown. He blamed the cowardly Crocodile.

Henry Mills was in awe of all the knowledge and memories at his fingertips. Handcrafted dream catchers were scattered on his dining room table, each of them waiting to be activated by magic- waiting to reveal missing memories, and potentially solve all their problems! So much had changed in the last day. His adopted mother's boyfriend, Robin, had been spared an untimely death- and his birth mother's boyfriend, Captain Hook, had let an enormous secret slip. He was the Dark One and had been hiding it well. Before him was the information about what had really caused his birth mother's death-somewhere in these stolen thoughts!

Mom Mills wouldn't show him what his own dream catcher stored-not until she had screened it, for parental guidance! But he so wanted to know- presently, she was locked in her study to view the stored memories in the adults' dream catchers one by one, with Snow White and Robin Hood taking notes.

He put a note on the fridge, saying he would be at the stables. When there was no one he could talk to, he talked to his horse. In the two years he'd known him, his strong spotted steed hadn't seemed to communicate anything in return- but he hoped that soon enough they'd understand each other. And then he might let Henry ride him.

He was surprised to find he wasn't alone at the stables- that girl was there, brushing her auburn quarter horse! "Oh hi- were you listening to me…?"

The girl smiled-with her gentle eyes and with her soft pink lips. "Couldn't help overhearing- I tell my horse all my troubles, too." Henry went over to pat her horse's nose- he calmly looked the boy in the eye. Didn't roll his eyes or whip his tail forward dismissively, as Henry's horse so often did! "I'm Violet, and this is Nicodemus…. So you really found the missing memories?" she asked.

"Yeah! I can get you yours!" Henry said, sounding way too excited. "Um- what's your family name? And your favorite color? What foods do you like?"

She locked her horse's stall and said, "Really? Do you need all that? Can I just come with you and pick out my own memories?"

He was filled with hope -hope for the two of them! She would come to his house! And he would give her one of the greatest gifts- showing someone a part of themselves, that was the gift of true friendship.

Belle quietly slipped away from her hiding spot on the hill, taking shaky, measured breaths to stay her crying. Her lonely husband couldn't know she had been there, watching him at the well. She felt like a creepy mean -spirited voyeur! She had hurt Rumpelstiltskin's newly rejuvenated heart as soon as he'd given her the chance! She told herself sternly that this was for the best, this new man had just fought for his life and now he had to be able to fight for the kind of life he would live. Maybe they would rendezvous at the next holiday and he would have a new job, new friends, and new ambitions - and maybe so would she. Then they'd really have to communicate, and not fall into bad habits again. They could remind each other who they really were. That was one of the gifts of intimacy- showing someone who they are, reflected in your eyes.

Belle left the car at the trailhead for him with the keys under the seat. She would walk from now on- it was part of feeling his pain. Even though the wind kicked up and storm clouds gathered, she walked on. Into the forest, to avoid Rumpel seeing her from the road. To the town line, where a redheaded woman in rags was working her way out of ropes and ties. She wanted to know this woman and what she'd done to Rumpel. It was part of knowing him.

"Stay where yeh stand!" the woman yelled.

"I'm here to help," Belle said, hands open before her. "I don't blame you for attacking me." She opened her coat, turned out her pockets. "Look. I have nothing. You have nothing. Can I untie you -and we could get someplace warm?"

"That don't make us friends!" Merida said, allowing herself to be freed. She didn't have nothing- her horse ambled up from a ditch where he had been grazing. She shook off the pain and exhaustion and hopped on his back.

Belle didn't exactly have nothing either. "You don't really want to go after Rumpelstiltskin- you want to find your family. That's what everyone here wants," she said. "And I am good at finding things out."

Merida pulled Belle up onto Angus' back to ride behind her. "You know about magic, lass! That's what you're going to find for me!" They rode off to town.

The storm gathered power for a good two hours before it let loose lightning and torrential rain on the Storybrookes. Frozen lasagna was heated and set out on the counter for a late dinner at the Mills household. It was quiet; the adults were still in the study. Roland and Neal had been tucked in for a little sleepover in the den; they snoozed in a car seat and on a couch. Violet and Henry managed to quickly eat and look over the magical dream catchers. "Fly paper for bad dreams," Henry explained, quoting what he'd heard his father had said. One wrapped hoop decorated with broken shells stood out to her. She concentrated as she held it- all Henry could say was that they had to wait for magic to activate it. His mother was busy, as she had been most of his life, really. Violet paced about his house as the storm shook it, offering a smile now and then. She looked cute and sweet in a tan riding outfit and boots, her dark hair braided atop her head. Henry wondered what his cool mom would do-if she were alive. Maybe she would just let them cruise around in her yellow VW bug with her. She would break the ice. "So, Violet, what's your story?" Maybe she would let them squeeze in the squad car on a police ride-along, giving Henry a chance to show his bravery and resourcefulness.

"Morgan." she said. "That's my family name. White- that's actually my favorite color." She blushed. "You seemed to want to know…"

"Yeah- cool! Uh, my aunt's a witch." he blurted out. "Uh… but we probably shouldn't ask her help, she's... ah, insane."

Violet grimaced.

"I happen to be welcome at the Dark One's house, and he has magic." Henry said. "So that means-"

" What? I've heard stories about the Dark One -he's here, and you know him?" Violet gulped.

"Sadly, yes…" Henry got two raincoats and large umbrellas from the front closet. "He dated my mom, he would never hurt me. You really want your memories?" She let him drape a coat on her. She seemed excited by the eagerness in his eyes. "Well- it's just a short way to the Dark One bait."

Henry glanced back at the note on the fridge - it would do. He didn't want his family to worry, knowing where he really was headed.

They ran through the bitter cold rain to Main Street, to Emma's abandoned car. Henry and Violet huddled in the back seat, with only flashes of lightning to provide visibility. He wanted to do something for warmth - but was hesitant, not wanting her to smell him or see his blemishes, or to seem presumptive.

The driver's door opened and Hook got in, shaking off his wet black hair as he turned to glare at them with tired, thickly lined eyes.

"Hook! Glad you made it. We need a ride."

"You shouldn't be here," he growled.

"'Kay. Can we go to your house then? Things are pretty crazy at my house. All hands on deck, you could say." Henry thought his mom would have appreciated the pun.

"You- you're the Dark One? You took our memories?" Violet asked. This was the man who had been so welcoming to her father, the other knights, and her king!

Killian felt Emma s presence in the front passenger seat. "Why not show him our house?" she asked. "Didn't Henry help you pick out the house listing, back in Camelot?"

Killian reluctantly conjured up a key and drove them through the gusty storm to East Shore Street. He offered them hot cocoa, which they tasted once and then politely ignored. Once, Killian and Henry had actually been close. He would have told him what was wrong with his cocoa. They'd gone sailing together. They'd even discussed how Killian might take the next steps in his relationship with Emma, and what those steps were.

Now Emma sat on a bar stool next to the two teens, smiling and observing. Because of her, Killian's magic would always be weakened- just enough to let her son in.

"How about letting us see our memories?" Henry asked, taking his dream catcher out of his inner coat pocket. "Or, at least Violet's? I think. ... you have some kind of plan. That's what you're hiding. But can't she see the memories that don't have to do with your plan?"

Killian looked between the two of them. Friendship. Trust. Young love? He would never have those things again. The camaraderie of a ship's' crew-he had missed it so much, and almost had it again with Arthur's men. But now- he was surely hated. He couldn't go out with the newcomers ever again.

Guilt bore down on him. "Tell me, Henry, if I help the young miss, will you-" He couldn't bring himself to bargain for some company. "Ah, just tell your grandparents that I'm not all bad, will ya?"

Henry nodded somberly. His cell phone buzzed and rang- he ignored it for now. Violet held up her dream catcher. With Killian's concentration there was a yellow glow in the center-then images- of riding horseback through her village. Meeting Henry at a ball in Camelot. Teaching Henry to ride. Being confronted by Emma Swan! The woman with stringy blonde hair and sickly complexion, in a tattered white robe- she was the Dark One, and she was rattling Violets body with the force of a blow to the chest! Violet's heart was being pulled out and magically controlled, before her!

The two teenagers covered their mouths, unable to look away. Killian cringed as well. He had already watched every movie of memories in every dream catcher, when he couldn't sleep. Some were still unnerving. They heard Emma speak to the heart faintly, in the memory, "You go to Henry… you don't love him. You won't ever love him…"

"The Dark One huh?" Merida asked. "No wonder he didn't keep his promise. Maybe he was never going to tell me what happened to my young brothers, in the missing memories. But he did show me some mercy." She and Belle had taken shelter from the storm in the library, where Belle could show her the clues she'd found in literature about the clans of Dun'Broch. Merida covered her heart. "He gave me heart back."

" _Some_ mercy, yes- he wanted to duel my husband! To the death! " Belle said. "But my husband must have shown weakness, groveled or bargained- and the Dark One let him live!"

"So much for all I taught him," Merida grumbled. They stared into the flame of a scented candle on the counter. "Now I may be forced to train him again, so he can fight the pirate all the better."

"Unless… we can figure out a protection spell. For your heart, and as a matter of fact, mine!" Belle said. They retired to the bed and sofa in Belle's old apartment. In the next day, they would get the ingredients and the help they'd need for that spell, for a spell for finding Merida's brothers who had been captured by the other clans of Dun'Broch, last she knew- and for finding out who had killed her father, in her youth. Belle had suffered amnesia enough times in her life, that she just wanted to help one other person with it- maybe that was her calling, and not just this library.

Regina Mills had left message after threatening message on her son's cell phone. She, Robin Hood, Snow White, and Charming were nearing exhaustion- but realizing Henry was not at home and not at the stables woke them up. Snow, his maternal grandmother, tried leaving him a message with the hope of a project they could do together, instead of threats. She had been his favorite teacher- and a co conspirator against many a villain. She tried to lure him back home, saying, "Henry, I know it's late, but I was thinking! You were right, earlier, when you said the people from Camelot must be bored… and that they all want a contest of some kind… Well, since we ought to make them feel welcome, we ought to show them that they're under our protection from - you know who- I am putting you in charge of organizing a town fair!"

Regina rolled her eyes. Snow wrapped up. "So Henry I can't wait to talk to you about it! Call me back! As soon as you get this!" Snow White affirmed she was serious about this town fair idea with a look to her tired husband. It would give the two small towns a chance to meet up, relax, and find reasons to hope.

Robin squeezed Regina's shoulders. "Hey, it could work," he said. "The lad just wants to feel included." They had already ruled out a kidnapping because Henry had left a dish in the sink, in his usual way, after eating more of the pan of lasagna than they'd expected- and a quick magical transport to the stables and back showed no sign of a struggle there.

"He just keeps on running away from me…" Regina said to herself morosely. Their evening of research hadn't been what they'd hoped, either. There was nothing unusual about Hook's ship or house, and his memories were not amid these dream catchers. They had nothing to go on, because no one else's memories included the truth of Emma Swan's death, or anything about the Dark One dagger being given to or stolen by Hook. They were memories of dancing, questing with King Arthur- being betrayed by him too. Finding Merlin in a tree, freeing him, freeing prisoners from Arthur's dungeon- no details about what happened to Merlin as the Dark Curse rolled in. The end of their stay in Camelot was all a blur. They had hoped to communicate with Merlin using a spell with a rare mushroom- which explained some notes Regina had found in a reference book she brought with her from that land. But once they freed Merlin from his willowy form, and found out that Arthur actually wanted to control or kill him- then what had happened? They still didn't know if Merlin had stayed back in the Enchanted Forest somehow, or come with them in a way that was yet again hidden or transformed!

Finally Henry picked up the phone- for his grandfather, David. He was crying. There was a girl crying in the background. "Can you pick us up from - from the marina?"

Before David could answer, Henry and a girl his age appeared on the couch in a swirl of sorcerer's smoke. They told Henry's family everything- how Hook openly used magic but wouldn't say how he got it. How he revealed memories of Emma controlling Violet, but not her motives. How the two had begged the Captain to explain why Emma wanted to turn Violet into someone who would break Henry's heart- and to explain how Emma had later died. But Hook's heart seemed to be broken as well, and he just looked off to the side sadly, saying, "Those are questions for your mother." Then they were sent off with magic.

Violet wanted to leave, embarrassed to cry in front of strangers- but she had a favor to ask of Regina… "Show me my heart," she asked.

Henry wished he had just a bit of magic so that _he_ could show her the heart that beat inside her chest-or find it for her, wherever it was! Of course she had to know if dark magic had stolen it from her forever.

Cautiously, his adopted mom reached for the heart of his crush. Her hand could pass through matter- the heart was there, still beating though separate- and it was pink and red and glowing. Spotless, beautiful, pure. "It's been returned to you, then. The Dark One had mercy," Regina said, and slowly pushed it back into her body.


	10. Beautiful Distractions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Will the town realize what's going on?

Chapter Ten

Beautiful Distractions

"This is a powerful protection spell that will guard our hearts. Never will they be controlled again," Belle said. She unfolded a piece of stationery that had the hard-pressed handwriting of the wicked witch of the West, detailing a chant and instructions. She looked it over with Princess Merida. "It was not easy to get." Belle added. "I had to visit a wicked, mean old witch in her cell- and tell her every horrible thing that has happened to Rumpelstiltskin. Her former captive. So she could get off on hearing news of his suffering!"

Merida cracked her knuckles and rolled up her sleeves. "Chase the devil backwards if it works! So how do we start?"

Belle centered herself and focused. In time of great need, she could find it in herself to work spells. Rumpel had inspired her to do this when he had left for Neverland. She had channeled the magic of fairy dust in the mines to activate his spell to protect the town. Now, with thoughts of her own strength and safety, Belle ran her fingers over the freshly penned words of the spell and said the chant softly. Soon a golden glow warmed both women's hearts -they had a new confidence that no one would take their will away from them.

"Yer study of magic, it paid off!" Merida exclaimed, and playfully grasped and shook Belle's shoulder. "Now let me do something for you! There's a shooting range around here- I could hear it, from the woods. Let's go!"

"What? You want to go -shoot my gun?"

"We could both stand to learn that weapon, lass. And I'll teach you all there is to know about marksmanship!"

East Storybrooke was coming to life more and more, as people used what they found around them to bring in money from Storybrooke proper. Shops opened and industrial sounds were heard from the water treatment plant. Guinevere of Gwent glided down the boardwalk regally, seeing how she could help her people. Guinevere of Gwent missed Arthur of the broken kingdom of Camelot. He hadn't come home the previous night, or the night before that, and he hadn't been out with the boys, she'd discovered. He had to follow leads wherever they took him, sometimes quicker than he could discuss it with her… Guinevere walked along the one street of her new little town and waited. She saw him as the victor against any evil, the rightful inheritor of every treasure, a man who had pulled himself up by his bootstraps from poor repute. Above it all, he deserved her love. She didn't see him as the king who had bullied outlying tribes for tribute, or who hid from practical duties to obsess over esoterica he would never use, or the one who forgot most of her birthdays, their anniversaries and public holidays, being so wrapped up in his research. She remembered those things, but for some reason she just didn't see him that way. Maybe love was blind -and in her eyes, he could only be the excitable young man she fell for in her youth.

Less than a mile away, Arthur brooded in a dungeon under the Dark One's house. The very thing that blinded Guinevere would have to be traded away, since Dark Killian wanted his... contribution. Arthur had many treasures but only one magical item that could fix things for the Dark One- and he gripped it tightly. The shining glass canister had been hidden always, sewn to his undershirt. The Powdery sand within was from the fairy Isle of Avalon, often glimpsed but never reached from Camelot - spoken of but never clearly seen. It was a mystical place where Arthur wanted to be buried someday, if he could not land there while alive. And from its shores, only a very powerful person could have stolen this item.

"The Dark One traded away these Sands once, and to the Dark One I now trade them back," he said into the shadows. That brought Killian to his side.

Killian had been glaring at Mr Gold's shop from the street corner, brainstorming the most devastating way to end his enemy. The duel had not been as satisfying as he'd hoped. Emma had been leaning against a lamppost, asking him to put off all his ideas at least until Henry went off to college. _Couldn't it wait? Couldn't you let Henry grow up without losing more family members?_

Now Killian poofed away to his subterranean basement, to the sound of an offer being made to the Dark One, leaving his vision of Emma.

"What sands?" he asked Arthur.

Arthur narrowed his light blue eyes and sought Killian's. "You could have asked for them. As a friend. Instead you-"

Killian swiftly pried both his hands open and ripped the item away, tearing a hole in Arthur's sweaty undershirt. He examined the little glass cylinder with shifting pink sands inside. "Oh, you don't want _me_ as a friend, you cod-livered yellow-bellied- where's the rest of it?" It was three-quarters full. No one would go get magical sands and not fill up the container!

"The Sands of Avalon." Arthur explained. "They fix... situations... they fix things by providing the illusion of wholeness. And… I used some… but you can have the rest of it! For my freedom -"

"For your freedom, I will have your silence!" Killian interrupted with a cocky air. "Tell - _anyone_ \- about what you saw, where you were, or who I am- and you'll regret it. I'll find out what you fixed with the Sands of Avalon… and I'll ruin it. Then I'll ruin _you_."

Arthur looked down and thought of Guin. The Sands' spell kept her under the illusion that he was just who she had fallen in love with, and their marriage was whole! It was such a fragile, beautiful illusion. Suddenly, with a strange grin, Killian transported him back home to her, as magic was the only way out of that dungeon.

Arthur figured it was only a matter of time before Killian would try to use and extort him again. Now, Arthur would spend every waking moment researching the Dark One. His weaknesses. Where the Dagger of Kris might be. How to end him- or control him- by getting it and Excalibur. After all, he wasn't just the fabled philosopher-king. He aspired to someday be the Sorcerer-King.

Captain Killian Jones stared at the vial and spat dismissively, "Kings!" If only Arthur had tried for Excalibur and left a big pile of ashes behind, he could have kicked it up into the air! And still he'd have found this little prize, the Sands of Avalon! Since the dreamcatchers of memories had been stolen, Arthur would soon be seen for the traitor he was back in Camelot- and somebody _else_ would surely kill him.

Killian salivated over the broken Excalibur that lay waiting before him. No one was around and his Dark One demons were absent for the moment. It was his turn to try to grasp the handle. He dared to touch it - it burned his hand, but it did not make him burst into smoke and ash immediately! The pain was enough to wrench body from mind! The pain of combustion building within him- he let go the hilt with an exhilarated gasp. "A worthy sword!" he laughed. This treasure offered him the rush of mortality again!

A flash of a vision- Nimue's yellow-green eyes glaring at him. "Are you really ready... to snuff out _all light_?" Her voice echoed from somewhere in the house. "Even Henry?" she cackled, distantly.

Killian sang away the spooky voice, loudly, as he went upstairs to pour a drink. "Yo ho, yo ho, ah, to end me when I'm done, yo, ho, and a bottle of rum!"

Emma appeared in the kitchen, to help him drain a bottle. "What will you do with the Sands?" she asked, looking him up and down seductively from behind heavy, dark lashes. "You don't _have to_ reforge Excalibur! With the Sands- you could give the world the illusion that all dark magic is gone! Only you and I would know- we could have the best of both worlds!"

"But _how_ do I live in both worlds?" Killian asked.

He retreated up to his bedroom-should have been his and Emma's bedroom. His and hers closets. Two grand windows overlooking the backyard- and the ocean. How could he have the illusion of wholeness here? He looked in the full-length mirror at the gaunt, crazy person he'd become. His black mustache was growing out. His chest glimmered with scales, no longer just full of dull scars. Odd hooks of different sizes were poking up from his jacket's shoulder blades, curving upwards. His love appeared behind him- but she was not the Emma Swan he had fallen for in the Enchanted Forest. Clenching his eyes shut, he opened the lid of his little prize and blew softly across the opening. He wanted to open his eyes and see that scattering some sands had fixed everything for him! What he saw- was Emma! Red-jacketed, bouncy-haired, twinkling-eyed Emma! She was alive and whole in the mirror! And he was not there at all!

_That is how things should be,_ Killian thought.

He still heard Dark Emma's low voice from the corner, and felt her intense eyes focused on him. "You shouldn't have activated the girl's memories. Now all they want is answers. And this version of me- can't give that to them."

"We'll see," he said, hearing the warm voice of Emma, the savior, come from his mouth.

Maleficent watched Arthur's home from the sky. He quickly stepped out this evening, looking around suspiciously as he went to a payphone in the corner of a lonely parking lot and picked up the receiver. Maleficent could hear him as well as the feet of squirrels on faraway trees- he was calling a Mr. Smee, asking weaselly questions, like how his Captain could be bribed, or bought, and how he liked his hookers… Maleficent figured it could be a long conversation. She circled higher above the clouds, and then nosedived towards the trees, off several yards from anyone's view. The great bowing of pine trees under the wind of her low flight was a signal to Will. The rough young man with a buzz cut came out from the woods to approach Arthur, first waiting patiently for the pay phone- and then, suddenly, punching his lower back and putting him in a headlock.

"This is for Lily, you sick bastard!" The Knave of Hearts exclaimed. The king of Camelot struggled against the chokehold. A great mass of wings and scales tumbled towards them out of the sky, transforming as she landed- the mother dragon. She looked determined and cruel in her sleek pantsuit and meticulously curled blonde hair, approaching them expressionless.

"You may have stopped me from doing you harm," Maleficent said to Arthur coolly, "but whatever magic you've used to hold me off- it doesn't apply to _him_."

Will Scarlet stomped on Arthur's foot and held him tight in the crook of his arm, so he would have to bow to Maleficent. "Best to ask her forgiveness, little bugger! In my experience Maleficent can be forgiving… but I'm not." Will thought back to a time when he had stolen an enchanted looking glass from Maleficent's castle- she could have come after him, but she didn't.

"You organized an attack on my daughter," Maleficent said. "You betrayed my friend, Regina… you betrayed everyone," the older woman went on. "And soon enough they'll all remember. So why should we let you live? Hmm? ...Regina said you might have something useful to us…"

Arthur fought. Will threw an uppercut into his gut and cast him down on the pavement, ripping the light chain off his neck as he fell. He had the keys to the royal treasure chest, and, because he had followed Arthur that day that he had foolishly shown it off, Will knew where it was.

"What do you want?" Arthur panted.

"I'll know it when I see it- I'm kind of an expert on finding exotic mushrooms," Will bragged to Maleficent.

"No- the mushroom -to find Merlin?" Arthur spat. "Don't bother with the Sorcerer! He tricks! He- he-"

"I know." Will shrugged. "He fucked with your parents. Let you grow up an orphaned bastard. I know. I read your literature." He leaned over Arthur and whispered harshly, "Doesn't make me feel sorry for ya."

With a softer whisper, he told the sorceress the location of the chest. She knew the place- conjured it up in her mind's eye and then brought the chest forth into her hands, with magic. Will unlocked it and pulled out a dense red and white bell mushroom that looked like it had been picked just a couple weeks ago.

"The Crimson Crown," Maleficent said with awe. A very elusive ingredient for a spell that would let them communicate across magical boundaries. With this, she could find Merlin, and finally ask him to arrange for her happy ending. Either getting her daughter back- or, at this point, just getting revenge. She narrowed her eyes at Arthur. "This had better help me deal with the one responsible for Lily's death. Otherwise… you will have to do." Her long black nails turned into mighty claws that gripped the mushroom- as a dragon, she took to the skies, leaving Will with the wooden chest.

She sensed something magical was changing the towns below. She flew higher than the winding spell could reach.

Before Will could do any more to his enemy on the ground, the wind blew dust and sand in his eyes. It was a strange wind, sweeping across all the land, carrying special sands… Arthur saw a familiar stupefied look cross Will's face. "Don't just lie there-your majesty," Will said in a much more jovial tone than he'd ever heard- and the young man took off with the treasure.

Snow White and David were deep into a discussion over their recovered memories from Camelot, when their counselor, Archie, stopped by to check on them. His house calls to all those recovering from yet another bout of amnesia were going surprisingly smoothly- everyone seemed well adjusted already. On his leather shoes and coattails he carried and spread the subtle swirling sands that blew on the dusty wind. The sands that found their victim's eyes and made them simply move on from the puzzle of recent events.

Belle Gold blinked away sands that blew in from the open window. She had come back to the house after an exhausting afternoon at the gun range with Merida—Merida insisted on going back to stay in the woods, but Belle needed her own space to unwind.

She paced and ran her fingers through her thick brown hair that she hadn't washed for days. It was hard to pack up all she might need from the Gold estate, not knowing how long she and Rumpel would continue their separation. She couldn't stay here and live like the whole place was hers, as she had during his banishment. He'd want to stop camping out in the back of his shop at some point, he'd want to come back, at last, to his comfortable home... and be among his things... He would find the kitchen, parlor, bathrooms and library neat and fresh, but the rest of the house shut up, dusty and stale. Among the places she'd stayed in Storybrooke there was Rumpelstiltskin's cabin in the woods- she didn't want to go there because of all the questions that it would bring up about all the things that had happened there... when Rumpelstiltskin, Cruella, Maleficent and Ursula had holed up there. She'd heard that they had tortured Pinocchio and the Author, done terrible things. She didn't want to go back to her caretaker's apartment in the library because Rumpel certainly had a copy of the key. She knew he was no real threat now without his magic, and with his limp again- it would be hard for him to get up the steep stairs to the small apartment. That didn't shake her uneasiness; she knew it wasn't a real separation if he could actually stop over any time. Belle stopped pacing and shouldered her overstuffed purse. She picked up her suitcase. She'd check in at Granny's B & B again. She would shake off her ties to Rumpel, her misgivings about Rumpel, and just go to the town fair this evening. At last she knew Rumpel would be fine, so she could just go out... like a somewhat single person again. She laced up her sneakers, with her blue argyle heels ready for a quick change in her bag, and headed out.

Mr. Gold had been hiding in his shop, struggling to distill magic from objects imbued with it. He'd looked up wistfully each day when Belle would pass his storefront window, going from the library to Granny's or towards the woods for a hike. She was smart to move out of his house and avoid him. She was smart to try to protect herself from him, just in case his renewed, blank heart didn't stay that way. He looked back upon past relationships with regret, regret he hadn't indulged as the Dark One.

He had held Milah's heart in his hand and crushed it, rather than let bygones be bygones... He had caused Cora's death—that is, caused Snow White to trick her stepmother into killing her mother...

The unselfish thing to do, when he last confronted his first wife, would have been to keep his deal with Milah. He could have fairly traded that coveted old magic bean for her safe passage off into the sunset with her lover. The unselfish thing to do, the day that Cora died, would have been to speed along his own death by poison before Cora arrived to take his place as the Dark One. That was one of the few rare times that the cycle of Dark Ones could have ended. The power would have been gone from the world; Cora would still be alive and evenly matched with Emma; all at the small price of Rumpelstiltskin's life. …

He saw a pattern in his life, and wondered how he'd managed to hold off from killing the third woman he'd dared to love, Belle. There were those times when she repeatedly threatened to leave, demanded things of him using the dagger... He had managed to figuratively hold her heart with gentleness, rather than physically grab her heart and roughly punish it as Nimue and the others urged, at the back of his mind... Rumpelstiltskin truly wanted the best for Belle. Time and again that meant that they should be apart. Now as he spun the old spinning wheel next to his basket of magical antiques, he desperately willed just enough magic to protect a nonmagical person from the Dark One. He hoped Belle would accept any protection he could offer her. She was so stubbornly independent now- and knowing that tempted him to just try to hide _himself_ from the coming storm.

" _Self preservation is your nasty habit."_ The words from Belle's mouth haunted him, though it was just a vision of Belle that had told him that, back in Neverland.

Mr. Gold glanced over the glass cases, shelves, and the hat racks bearing various antiques in his shop. They didn't glimmer with magic and meaning, as they had when magic swirled about his soul and buzzed beneath his skin. Now his memories about each object were dimmer. He opened up his filing system now that it was more of an effort to recall the story about each item for sale, which made them worth the inflated prices. Hundreds of little cards- he came across one with Belle's handwriting and remembered she had helped him update the inventory during their brief, shoddy excuse for a honeymoon. While she had found them an exciting, romantic getaway for their honeymoon, he had found work for her to do. He shuddered with regret, just as he started to justify himself in his mind, and excuse those days of filing inventory cards as a way to… let his new wife in on some of his secrets and allow her to tend the shop just as well as he could.

Then a harsh memory came back to him. When he was the Dark One- and she was his maid- they had been riding in a carriage to the Sherwood Forest and he had leaned towards her as he said, "There is something I love more than power... MY THINGS!" His shrill exclamation, loud enough to hurt her ears- it rang in his ears now in the lonely pawnshop full of THINGS. None of the magical items drew him in, like they used to.

He had failed so terribly to put any effort into their marriage. Memories were left, full of pain that the Darkness had shielded him from. Over there- the corner where he had slouched, having a heart attack, losing his sense of self to the Darkness. Right across the aisle of display cases- that was where he and Belle had sat on the floor in tears, after returning to this world from the Heroes and Villains story-world. "You could have had a good life, a good marriage-for real!" Belle had cried.

Mr. Gold tried to focus on something positive. Money. Money could protect him from his many enemies in this town, if not the new Dark One. He opened the cash register- empty. Surely the cash had been moved to one of the safes?

Belle had tended the store last- she must have found it more profitable than working at the library, and she had to look out for herself after- banishing him. Mr. Gold gritted his teeth at the thought of Belle making sales here during their separation, while having a fling with a bug-eyed young man who was new in town. He pictured her carelessly accepting low offers on items while distracted by flirting with Will. Still, he knew that her heart wasn't in it- literally.

At the tall black safe- the combination lock was colder to the touch than anything had been when he had magic- he found stacks of bills and canisters of coins. Counting them, there was less- how many months had it been, that he was banished, in hiding, suffering heart trouble, and then in a coma? There should be more just from rent money, he thought, and- wasn't his wife smart enough to keep collecting rent all that time and secure her financial future?

He rolled his eyes with the realization that Belle was just too honest to make money the way he did, with late fees and payment method fees and suits over property damage... and then she was gone to Camelot for two months, so of course there was less... He stood up with a sigh, stopped himself from complaining under his breath. Of course she was not callous and materialistic. He and Belle would never have shared the love they did, if she were that way...

The bell sounded- Maleficent walked in. "Strange to see you here... _without magic_ ," she said. "Even stranger than Ursula had once described! She said that it was pitiful, how you turned up at her doorstep in New York, needing a place to stay, sick and dying! Couldn't and wouldn't get a job... even in desperate times, you were just as arrogant as always, thinking you could call the shots..."

"I had a plan then. And that plan, the book about heroes and villains, didn't work out... because of Henry, my grandson... Whenever I have a plan, it doesn't matter. Henry and Emma would always be fighting it, they'd find some way to undo it..." Rumpelstiltskin said.

Maleficent grew nervous at Mr. Gold's frantic polishing and packing of items, and the very real fear in his voice, his nervous movements... "Now... you don't have a plan, do you? For once…"

Mr. Gold stared off into the distance. "You just train your powers. You'll need to be able to defend yourself against a new Dark One. I may be able to derive enough magic- from these magical items -to protect myself at least for a while."

"Yes –yes, you're right! The Dark One is still out there- and still a threat! I don't know what's gotten into people- I didn't work any sleeping spell but just now the 'heroes' are acting like they're asleep!"

Maleficent was disturbed by her experience earlier in the evening, of bringing a valuable spell ingredient to Regina and being ignored. Regina and her family were involved in the details of a town fair, a display of their benevolence and ability to protect the town from any darkness. They were going to let their official silence confirm the rumors floating around, that Captain Hook was the new Dark One. But they seemed utterly unconcerned about finding the missing information about what happened in Camelot. With the Crimson Crown, they could communicate with Merlin wherever he was and in whatever form he was hiding- because no dream catcher yet had the answer to how Emma Swan had died, who cast the Dark Curse, or whether it had brought Merlin along with it to East Storybrooke. Maleficent pushed for this, but everyone among the heroes let their eyes gloss over at the mention of it!

"Now. It's time to wake the people up, now! Otherwise, Rumpelstiltskin- it's on you and me to fight Hook!" Maleficent resolved, "We've got to fight the Dark One somehow- corner him and imprison him! I haven't been able to find him lately, searching from the skies -but perhaps if you break out your old crystal ball?"

"No, no, no," Rumpelstiltskin said, "he'll find me. I don't have to go looking for him. A couple days ago he used me-to pull Excalibur from a stone! Surely he will use me or try to kill me again."

"You? You pulled Excalibur from a stone? Rumpelstiltskin that means- that means that you are the rightful leader of this land now! It's time to step up and lead!" She got right in front of him and tried to hold his gaze. He seemed so unsure. His hair was greasy, his brow was sweaty, as he fumbled with his things nervously.

"No... no, I'm not a leader. If anyone expects me to be powerful- well, I am, at best, someone resourceful. But I'm powerless against the pirate! The thief!" His jaw clenched as he went on, "The murderer, the one who broke up my family, took my wife, tried to kill the girl I met and fell in love with, and then took away the love that my son had—Emma. Because Emma was _his_ first love…"

Maleficent sadly added, "The Dark Captain destroyed my family as well, because Lily was my whole family... If we can just get that dagger, then you can kill him at last... and then you'll have the power to be the leader of this land, if that is what is meant by-"

Rumpelstiltskin whispered, "No, no as much as I want to kill him-" he shuddered- "I won't become the Dark One again! You mustn't assume that you are safer with me as the Dark One, rather than him! I know that _I_ may be safer that way -but I won't, I _can't_ take that on again..." He shook his head vehemently and sat down on a stool.

"Pitiful!" Maleficent said, with contempt. She started to walk away, then said with a sideways look, "You know- there is a young lady who came to me today. Tough girl. She wants my help digging through the histories in the Sorcerer's Mansion... She also said she knew how to properly-motivate you!"

Maleficent left, with a little smile, slamming the front door.

It was sunny and breezy out. Main Street was being blocked off, folding tables and tents were going up, and the nuns were raising a banner up over the street that said 'Story Daze.'

" _Fairies,"_ Maleficent grumbled dismissively, then put on the fedora that matched her black pinstripe pantsuit and walked off down a side street as quickly as she could, away from the tired old booths and decorations reused from the Miners Day festivals. It was all just bread and circus to distract the people from real problems.

She heard a young man approach a young lady, and scoffed at her own memories of such gestures. She took to the skies as soon as she'd found space to transform.

"Violet! Do you want to go to the carnival with me tonight? As friends. Or, whatever you'd like..."

"I can't, I'm so sorry Henry, I just can't think about it right now," she answered. "Nicodemus ran off! And I've got to find him! He doesn't know this place, and- what if he crosses the magical boundary at the edge of town?"

The young lady in riding boots and a lavender capelet hurried off towards the park. Henry was about to jog alongside her and try to help, when he felt a chilling presence behind him.

"Hey kid!" said an eerily familiar voice. He turned and saw his mother driving up in her VW bug, parking on the street, getting out- she looked just like she had when she first came to Storybrooke! Henry lost his balance-almost fell backwards!

"Mom! You're - but you're dead!?"

She smirked and raised an eyebrow. "How's your friend? Do you two want a ride somewhere…?"

He rubbed his eyes, ran his hands over his face- but she wasn't a figment of his imagination. After a moment, she shrugged and pursed her lips, and got in the car again. The nuns had all stopped setting up the fair to stare at her in disbelief. Henry looked around, dry mouthed, then ran to get in the passenger seat. He wasn't about to let the ghost get away!

"How? How are you here?" he asked.

"Where to? I'll explain on the way!" Emma said, with her typical guardedness. Beneath the happy, womanly exterior was a grizzled, sweating man stuck in his 30's, nervous about acting the part exactly. He listened closely to the instructions of his counterpart, Emma the Dark One, as he moved his foot from clutch to gas. He still couldn't drive stick as well as her-but Henry wasn't paying attention to that at the moment. The car drove down Main Street with "Black Magic Woman" playing on the radio, off to country roads where they could look for Henry's friend's horse together. The Dark One had no intention of explaining anything along the way. As they drove with the windows down, dust cascaded in the low sunlight- a dust so fine as to not be seen. It floated off her long blonde curls and all across town.


	11. Resurrection

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Is Emma back from the dead?

Chapter Eleven

Resurrection

"The Dark One used his magic and brought me back! I don't know how," the disguise of Emma explained to Henry, "and I don't know how long I can be here. All I know is that I died in Camelot! I don't remember... how... and now, I'm here! And even though it feels like it was just a blink of an eye between then and now- I know I missed you."

"I missed you too Mom!" Henry said, and he welled up with tears. They hugged in the car and Henry let go of all suspicions.

"So tell me about your friend…" Emma prodded. "What is she into? And, I guess more urgently, what is her horse into? If we can find her horse and bring them back then- she'll have every reason to go to the fair with you! Right?"

Henry said, "Well, yeah, we have been talking... about horses! She said Nicodemus is really smart, kind of an escape artist... He likes apples. And pumpkins, actually."

Emma nodded and drove to Peter Pumpkin Eater's pumpkin patch, a little nursery & garden shop that was just outside of town. "I noticed this was here after the second Curse of Storybrooke," she said. "Had to come out here because of a domestic between Peter and his wife. You know... It looks like no one's around. No one except maybe horse with a taste for pumpkin!" She pointed out past the gravel parking lot towards a chestnut brown horse in the field. They got out of the car and Henry was able to lead Nicodemus back towards the road with a smashed bit of pumpkin. They laughed together -it was like their adventures they'd had together, their codenamed missions from when the two had just met!

Next to the corporeal vision of Emma the Savior was the ethereal vision of Emma the Dark One, who sighed and smiled and repaid the host, Killian, with kisses.

"It is such, such a beautiful lie," she said to him.

Henry led Nicodemus by the bridle back to the stables, and with the other hand he answered his cell phone. "I'm on Road 17- with Emma!"

His mother, grandmother and grandfather were floored. They had to see with their own eyes. They raced towards Road 17 and 110th street in Regina's town car, as Robin watched the napping children. Regina parked on one side of the road and Emma's bug followed behind Henry and the horse, on the other side. Snow and Charming ran through the cloud of gravel dust, in between-the cloud parted and- seeing was believing! The family embraced. Killian felt their tears of joy through the image of Emma. Regina had her former rival and friend back, her stepdaughter's daughter, her co-parent. Snow and Charming had their daughter back! They made sure she would be at the royals' booth at the fair and carnival that evening. A miracle had happened, such a needed miracle that no one questioned it.

The fair was both jovial and eerie, like the melody Doc played on his accordion. Citizens and newcomers crowded the unbelievable image of Emma, a real live resurrected person, as children ran about the booths with sparklers. There were plenty of odd human tricks that the resident fairy tale folk were happy to show off, like a wandering circus sideshow, with pink wisps of cotton candy floating about on the wind. And at the end of the cordoned off part of Main Street, like a forbidden gypsy caravan, was a heated trailer where Regina and Robin Hood were handing out individualized enchanted dream catchers. A long line led up to the trailer-everyone seeking their memories of the past, with the help of a witch, rather than their futures from a fortune teller.

Belle drank a pint with the dwarves on the patio outside the Rabbit Hole to drum up her courage.

"Here's to the past!" toasted Happy. He played with the small braided hoop that had held his memories of Camelot.

"To adventure!" said Dopey, and they all clinked their steins and glasses and drank another deep gulp. They seemed satisfied with what they had recovered.

"R-Regina helped you-use those?" Belle asked Grumpy, gesturing towards his black, oval dream catcher with her glass, half full of Leinenkugels.

"Yep. I found out I danced with Queen Guinevere-" he confided.

" -And I danced with a lady in waiting, at a royal ball in Camelot!" interrupted Dopey.

"Wow. What was I doing...? Are any of your memories...about me?" Belle asked.

"Aahh... uh... I think you were watching little prince Neal a lot of the time..." The dwarves looked into their drinks and shrugged. They offered anecdotes about times when Belle had taken Roland, Henry and baby Neal on walks around a moat, and played hide and seek with them in Arthur's castle.

Belle nodded. "Oh I see. You know, the Blue Fairy had convinced me to go on that little adventure with you all, she said I was resourceful and helpful... for our quest to help the new Dark One... But I guess, what she meant was I'd be a good royal babysitter." Everyone paused. She drained her glass. "But why did all of our memories get sucked up into these... dream catchers? And why did we have to get back here by way of a curse... the East Storybrooke Curse...? And who died to make such a Curse happen?"

Grumpy kicked her playfully under the table. "Go! Get your dreamcatcher! Soon as we all have memories restored, we can start piecing that together." He leaned in and more softly said, "Yeah, you can trust Regina. She's really changed. Remember... just a couple days ago, she faced that flying she-devil at the park- wasn't she about to sacrifice herself for your friend, Robin Hood?"

"Yeah!" Belle said, still amazed by that turn of events. She stood, banishing from her body any fear of the woman who had imprisoned her, twice, used her, manipulated her, and for whom the ends always justified the means... She found much more anger and judgment in her heart, than fear.

Still, she stood in line behind knights of Camelot, waving away a warm pretzel vendor, ignoring calls of "STEP RIGHT UP!" as the line wound past a dimly lit alley where Dr. Frankenstein was offering to show the newcomers experiments with electricity. She eventually got her delicate willow branch dream catcher with six little glass beads, from Robin, who also gave her a warm smile. Regina waved her hand over the hoop and it glowed, revealing to them the most poignant experiences Belle had had during her six weeks in Camelot.

Later that night, she would fall asleep in her hotel bed with her dream catcher pressed against her heart, full of gratitude. She had met the great sorcerer, Merlin! She had helped him, and had his respect! She had visited a foreign land that none of the others had, and there she had helped Queen Merida of the Isles of Dun'Broch! She had performed magic-real magic- for Merida, and then she got her to fight a critical battle without depending on magic! She had rowed a boat, alone, past the mysterious isle of Avalon and back to the misty shores near Camelot, found her friends, and had researched esoteric questions of great import in the vast libraries of the king!

It was two AM. "The bars have closed, and so should we." Robin was eager to take care of Regina, when she'd let him. "Let's call it a night eh?" he said, rubbing her shoulders. His girlfriend had magic, power, status, money, knowledge and wisdom, not to mention beauty and motherly instincts, but what she didn't have enough of was compassion for herself. That's what he loved to help her with.

Regina sighed. "I'm willing to help people with their memories, by appointment, from now on. But King Arthur- he'll be last."

As she spoke, the knights were stirring, plotting in hushed tones in the restless night, telling their families that Merlin had indeed been freed in the past few weeks, and the fact that he was missing now had something to do with their obsessive king.

The next day brought a steady stream of visitors to town hall and the tiny Storybrooke tourism office. The knights wanted to quietly pledge allegiance to Princess Snow White and get her instructions. As much as Arthur had schmoozed last night, he had not connected with people who had their real memories back. Snow White greeted people at town hall as they came by. She sat contently, in a roomy pale blue blouse and jean skirt, with what appeared to be her cheery daughter and fussy son. She had a lot to teach the resurrected Emma about holding and soothing baby Neal, which was more her focus than any of the knights, asking about her plan.

Killian struggled to burp and rock the child, behind the image of Light Emma- but he persisted, with the promptings of Dark Emma.

"We solve problems as a family," Snow said to visitor after visitor, "and this family has a lot of catching up to do first. For now, everyone is to act like everything's normal with King Arthur. Don't let him know that memories reveal his betrayal..." Snow looked at what she thought was Emma, for an approving nod to this plan. "If Arthur is none the wiser, he will stay on his best behavior. Your sheriffs will protect you, if he doesn't..."

The next week was all about quality time and promises. The image of the savior dodged all tough questions about her death and afterlife, while catching up with her parents, son, Regina, and the many friends and acquaintances that she had helped and saved over the years. She became a better big sister to Neal, and coached him on crawling. She became godmother to Cinderella's little toddler, at an outdoor baptism- an acknowledgement of how Cinderella was the first person Emma had saved from the trappings of the Dark Curse. Now the Savior was expected to mediate disagreements and offer blessings too- all while Killian awkwardly moved about as he thought Emma would, doing and saying the things that her ghost instructed him. Somehow the Sands kept his cover even before the Fairies, even before Pinocchio, who had long guarded against such deceptions.

Concerns were eased for everyone but the truest believer, Henry. His mind still had traces of doubt. "So, how about my memories?" he asked when he dropped by the Charmings' loft apartment. "Mom looked them over, she said I can handle it- but she wanted you to be the one to activate this." He handed his birth mom the blue decorated dream catcher. "I'll bet it was your idea, making these and bringing them with the Curse. Surely you wanted us to have these clues?"

Hesitating, the image of Emma in a white T-shirt and perfect makeup held the dream catcher before her. Killian wondered where all the clues would end up leading Henry.

"Thank you Killian," his demons said in tandem, and above the other voices he recognized a low, feminine voice. "Thank you for being there for my family. Thank you for getting their minds off the Dark One. Now concentrate on the center of the hoop… and tell Henry we love him…"

"Whatever you see here, I love you, Henry," Killian said through his assumed voice and image. "Just know that I love you…" He used his magic and hoped no one would mind that its glow was grey. Images sped past-of Henry's attempts to impress Violet. Seeing Robin Hood die- and then be brought back to life. Planning a date with Violet- and Violet telling him that she wanted to be just friends. Then crying as he told his mothers what happened. Seeing his tears complete their spell to free Merlin from a tree!

It stung all over again, for Henry to know he'd been used. He flushed red and held back tears- if they were a spell ingredient, then he would never let himself cry again. "Why didn't you tell me that Violet said those things -under duress?" he asked. "Why didn't you tell me that maybe she _did_ like me? How can I expect her to want to hang around me- she'll always be afraid of my mom!"

Killian could not answer. "Trust the Sands," the voices of his demons said. And indeed, the Sands of Avalon made him appear innocent.

"But I... know that you had a good reason to do it…" Henry seemed to turn a kind of corner in his mind, beyond which he could see anything as alright. The Sands should have affected everyone this way, everyone who'd stepped outside into their wake. Henry could contentedly watch Neal play on the floor with Snow White- but Killian could not stand it anymore. He took off for the Jolly Roger.

There, the fractured parts of him could interact more freely, no longer contained. Dark Emma lounged on the deck, squinting at the horizon; Nimue rolled up her robe sleeves and practiced swordfighting with Zoso; the gold-scaled vision of Rumpelstiltskin looked down at Killian from the crow's nest. Killian peered down into the gentle waves and saw his reflection come and go- the reflection of a conflicted, but glowingly beautiful Emma Swan. If he looked very hard, he could see his own face beneath. The face of a desperately lost man who barely ate and barely slept. He faced Dark Emma.

"I tried to be noble for you, I tried to be a hero who could hold the darkness at bay for you, but I can't BE YOU."

"It's only temporary," she said in a flat tone. "Any time you need a break, just become yourself again. Tell them… tell them that you could only bring me back for a short time. And if my family needs me again… tell them you'll use your magic, to the extent that you can… to bring me back from the dead, for another short time." She shrugged.

"And have you thought about the price of this resurrection?" he asked angrily. "You think you're an exception, to the price of magic?"

The image of Emma could be seen on board the ship, fighting with herself. Leroy 'Grumpy' Jenkins was out at the docks, varnishing his boat, and was undisturbed by what he saw on the Jolly Roger. Nothing could disturb people from seeing what they wanted to see, it seemed.

Guinevere had organized a meeting of the King's Court on the sunny, lush lawn of city hall, looking forward to a future here in this land.

Violet ran into Henry at the stables, later, and after hearing how he had forgiven Emma, she easily forgave her too.

Everyone was still abuzz with the glory of the resurrection- but Maleficent and Rumpelstiltskin. Maleficent watched her daughter's hoop of captured memories again and again, as she brewed up a spell in a locked room in the Sorcerer's Mansion, listening to "In the Hall of the Mountain King" and puzzling over how the Crimson Crown could be activated.

Rumpelstiltskin filled his pawnshop with classical music as he struggled with different spells of protection. The shades were drawn, shutters were closed, and Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake Suite sounded loudly from his speakers. He glanced at the town paper's bold headlines about the return of the Savior, and nervously called Belle's cell phone.

"Please come to the shop. We have to talk in person."

She politely agreed and was there in ten minutes.

"There's still some anti-transformation powder-here." He handed her a small silk bag. "I want you to be able to go, Belle. Take the car, see the world like you always wanted! Have your adventures!"

She looked at him worriedly. "Rumpel, what's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong," he said lightly. "You had said you couldn't leave town while your friends are in danger- well, now they're not," he lied. He pushed the car keys and a roll of bills into her jacket pocket. "I don't want you to put off your dreams… Belle, don't put it off another day! Go now!"

"Is -is this really ok? Will you need an-any-" she stuttered.

"Don't worry about me." He smoothed her shoulders, then gently turned her around to face the door. "I'm actually- thinking about putting my law degree to use, open up a little law practice upstairs!" He leaned in and said with a smirk, "Saving up for a Mercedes."

Belle couldn't believe it. It was too good to be true-but those sort of things were happening lately! She got in the four-door Cadillac and looked through her purse. Did she really have everything she needed to just -take off? And how long could she afford to be gone? She counted the bills- he was prepared for her to be gone a very long time. He was really letting her go, and not expecting her return.

She could go to New York City! Follow in the footsteps of her late stepson, Neal. Try to learn more about his life… Belle started driving slowly down the road, wondering if she should just speed away before she talked herself out of it.

Dark gray clouds filled the sky, as Nimue paced the deck of Killian's ship and sang,

"The wind was a torrent of darkness

Among the gusty trees

The moon was a ghostly galleon

Tossed upon the cloudy seas

The road was a ribbon of moonlight

Over the purple moor

When the highwayman came riding

Riding, riding,

The highwayman came riding..."

The old folk ballad about a highwayman, sung in a chilling and confident voice, reminded Killian Jones of a time when he was separated from his ship. He searched the world to find it, but in the meantime, in that year in the Enchanted Forest after the destruction of Storybrooke, he was a highwayman.

"One kiss my bonny sweetheart

I'm after a prize tonight

But I should be back with the yellow gold

Before the morning light…"

On the Jolly Roger, the Dark Ones ruminated. Killian drank to his reflection and to his girlfriend's ghost. He thought of a time when he had tricked, fooled and robbed people along the wooded highway, just to get by. Once Killian Jones the highwayman was finally reunited with his ship, he could be Captain Jones again- but he gave it all up. He had sold his home for transport to another world-Emma's world!

"After all I've done for you, Swan- you want me to still do more?" He addressed the stiff, bony, expressionless vision of Emma as he paced.

Meanwhile his vision of Korsen Thesh accompanied Nimue, on the violin.

"She drew one last deep breath,

Then her finger moved in the moonlight,

Her musket shattered the moonlight,

Shattered her breast in the moonlight and warned him with her death..."

Nimue sang a tragic tale of a woman's sacrifice, sacrificing her life for her love- who of course dies anyway, in the end.

_That's how it goes, all too often_ , Killian thought.

"Really we should both be dead, Swan!" he yelled at her. "Instead we're hanging on to a life with your family that's just-odd! It's like we're haunting them!"

"Killian, they love you. I love you," Emma said, embracing him. "This future we have together- it's about being a family!"

Nimue broke from her reverie to get between the two. "She's holding you back. Distracting you from your revenge!" she insisted.

Emma suggested, "Maybe this is so hard for you because… you bear the weight of the dagger. When my name was on that dagger … I trusted someone else to hold it, most of the time."

Killian rubbed his brow, hung his head. "If only I could trust you to hold this, if only that would make things better…" He held out the dagger laterally, so Emma could easily take its handle, but her hand passed right through it. She could not hold it in safekeeping. For just an instant, Killian realized he was totally alone on his ship.

Then Nimue was shouting, "She's made you hollow and lovesick! She's made it so no one can see the true you!"

Killian nodded. "Indeed… the Emma Swan I knew, she sought the truth. She understood me…" He took out his little jar of the mysterious Sands of Avalon, and leaned back against the mast, with a look of daring shot at Emma.

"No...no!" Emma said, wide eyed. She grabbed at the little glass cylinder, but he batted her away, and popped the top. She went on, "No, I won't let you ruin this! Without the Sands-too many people know about Excalibur! Too many people will try to change the balance of power! Merlin tried to protect the balance-!"

"Well, blow me down." Killian grumbled, and drew back a mighty breath. He inhaled deep with his lip at the edge of the jar, sucking all the missing contents back from this world. He pulled back the Sands that were all over town on a fast wind, and with his exhale closed the lid. He looked like himself again.

"Trust your power," Nimue said seductively, as she ran her hands over his shoulders, through his hair.

Emma doubled over in her panic and cried, "NO! No, without this distraction, everyone will be out for blood again! Killian, your blood!"

"Let them come," he snarled.


	12. Goodness is a thin veil

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A breaking point for Killian.

Chapter Twelve

Goodness is a Thin Veil

Merida rubbed her tired eyes. She had found no more insight into her missing family members in the libraries of the Sorcerer's Mansion -but suddenly research did not seem so important. Suddenly she sensed what was important was right there in her dream catcher of memories. She called on Maleficent again, the fearsome sorceress who had helped her with magical inquiries-with more experience and insight than Belle.

Maleficent came downstairs and kindly waved her hand to make Merida's dream catcher shine with magic again. She was glad to help someone who had helped her daughter in Camelot. The dream catcher full of Lily's memories had been a tremendous gift- Maleficent had seen through Lily's eyes, as she had traveled about and asked if there were others like her, and even made a formal inquiry with the king. In her missing memories, Lily had kept her distance from the heroes, heard King Arthur's malice toward dragons and monsters- and befriended a few outsiders and lower members of the court, who had stories to share about the paranormal. Including Merida and Lancelot. Lancelot had revealed himself as the shape-shifting monster Leviathan, and he and Lily had flown together, swam together, and shared dragon meals together, while his old cellmate from Camelot's dungeon, Princess Merida of Dun'Broch, had shared with them her people's dragon lore.

Now Merida looked pensively at her memories of those days, rushing by. She had the knowledge and the clarity at last- her mother and three brothers were safe back at home! And- King Arthur had admitted to killing her father, in a battle long ago! She knew what she had to do. She picked up her bow and rushed out of the Sorcerer's Mansion, to hunt down Arthur.

Guinevere stopped the planning meeting with Arthur and his Knights, at a picnic table outside town hall- suddenly blinking, confused. She was caught up in a whirl of memories. Arthur was the man who had ignored her for years, researching spells and going on quests for strange magical treasures, and now she could see him as he was, not as the love-struck idealist that had once courted her. She was no longer fixed on seeing him as he used to be. Guinevere addressed the ten knights who loyally awaited her directions:

"Gawain! Bors! Kay! Tristan! Do you see what he's doing? Galahad! Lamorak! Gareth! Our king... is just power hungry, he doesn't want to get us all high positions in Storybrooke- for any reason other than- to use us! He uses us to bolster his own power!"

The knights nodded and stared Arthur down. "All for one…" began Gawain, Arthur's cousin, the knight who was closest to him. He could not finish with "one for all."

Arthur recognized that the solution to his fractured fairy tale life was wearing off. "Where's Merlin?" everyone wanted to know. Arthur took off, feeling guilty and unable to answer that. He cursed the Dark One as he ran to the woods- for the Dark One had apparently made good on his promise.

Guinevere ran indoors, in her plain red dress and black Stiletto boots, to where Princess Snow had been blithely reviewing city ordinance proposals. Snow paused with a paper in her hand, looking about, disturbed.

"Snow White! We cannot ignore our memories any longer!" Guinevere proclaimed. "The Dark One is here-under your rule- and he and Arthur seek to make Excalibur whole! Do you know what that means?"

"Yes… yes I do." She stood slowly as the weight of her memories from Camelot really hit her. "Just a few weeks ago, Charming and I tried to install you as Camelot's queen and ruler, to prevent such a crisis."

Guinevere bowed her head. "My apologies, your majesty " She regretted betraying Snow and Charming back then- but she had been tricked with magic, somehow. A typical thing for her husband to do.

They heard the prince shouting from the street. He was waving widely to Snow from the window of her old station wagon, infant car seat ready in the back. "Come on, get in!" he called. "Grumpy said big news-at the docks!"

Their old friend Grumpy had sails hoisted and his little boat ready. Regina met them and reluctantly boarded with Guinevere and Snow, uneasy about how crowded the sailboat was- but they had to get a closer look at what was happening on the deck of the Jolly Roger. Emma, their savior, had been there, talking to herself- but her image faded away and a hairier, wilder Captain Jones could be seen, muttering and gesturing grandly.

A punch was thrown- one Dark One attacked another, and Killian Jones' host body acted this out. He could be seen hitting and throwing himself, while he perceived strong, wiry Dark Emma fighting solid, overconfident Nimue. They were having a terrific battle over what Killian should do.

"There's been quite enough, of us trying to pacify your family!" Nimue said to Emma. "They don't even like Hook anyway!"

"Stop beating yourself up over this!" Emma shouted to Hook exasperatedly, as she dodged a blow and a kick from Nimue. "We can still have a good life, here in Storybrooke!" She grabbed Nimue by her shirt collar and robe, lifted her up and tried to throw her overboard. "The Dark Ones want to snuff out light magic- honey, it can wait!"

"You expect him to wait- for your grandchildren to have children?" Nimue asked.

The water darkened as it got choppier. A storm was rolling in.

"End the charade, Hook!" Nimue shouted, and broke away from her struggle with Emma. She was out of breath and her neatly braided brown hair was starting to fray- but she was still winning.

"I-I hate you, Emma," Killian mumbled, letting himself exhale with those surprising words. "You were just- a pretty blonde distraction who led me away from my revenge! And I followed like a pathetic puppy dog. Now- no closer to having a good life with you. We can't even really touch!" He reached for her hands- but without focused Dark One magic, she was no longer solid. Her outstretched hands, her dispirited face, were just visions.

Killian could be seen staggering backwards with despair, as the heroes on Grumpy 's boat neared the side of the Jolly Roger. They had seen him hitting and kicking himself, and heard the strangest things- now he was going on about how Nimue was right.

"Nimue?" Guinevere asked Snow and Regina, who shook their heads in confusion. Perhaps this was another missing piece of a great puzzle. "I have heard that name before," she said. "It was one of the secrets that Merlin revealed to Arthur. This Dark One knows the secret too!" She got ready to confront the Dark One, as she had once before, before any of the Curses that had stopped time in Camelot. She would get to the heart of this. Guinevere leapt from the sailboat to grab the ropes holding a lifeboat to the side of the ship- she held tight and started climbing up the side, to the poop deck.

Regina used her magic to bring her and Snow White aboard. They were not greeted by a raving mad sorcerer-pirate- but by a lonely man hunkered down at the bough, who was staring at the Dagger of Kris. He just gave them a nod over his shoulder and didn't look up.

Killian, ravaged by the love that roiled into hate within him, slowly brought the dagger's point to his heart- he didn't care who witnessed his escape. Nimue was stopping him, with her strong arms holding his still.

"This won't work," she shamed him. " This will just send us back to the Dark Vault, and who knows where it opens to now… now that the Enchanted Forest is likely gone!" She butted her head against his to stop his stubborn suicide attempt.

The dark hearted man fell against the railing by the bough, passing out from the effort of resisting all the Dark Ones. Thunder clapped and lightning struck the cliffs in view; the wind whipped about the hair of the heroes who approached him, as rain was moving in. Snow White spied the dagger in his limp grip-the dagger that read Killian Jones! She slowly edged near him, crouching, reaching carefully for its black handle.

Regina prepared to defend them all with magic, should the pirate wake. But if Snow could get that dagger… the threat of the Dark One would be under control!

At the mayoral mansion, Henry was fixing a snack for him and Violet- and Nicodemus, who had graciously carried them here. The doorbell rang and Henry Mills was shocked to see the piercing Dark-lidded eyes and big red lips of Maleficent through the peephole. "My mom's… not here," he said, opening the door- and she easily let herself in in.

"No matter, dear... I need your help, Henry." She showed him a surreal looking mushroom that had been in her blazer pocket. "It turns out the Crimson Crown… will not speak to just anyone. It will establish communication between two people who have already chosen each other. The Sorcerer and his Apprentice… who, unfortunately, is dead… or the Sorcerer and his Author. You." Maleficent walked briskly to the kitchen and pulled out a large steel pot.

"My mom doesn't do potions in the house…" Henry objected.

He spoke softly to Violet, "Don't worry, she's a friend, " and gulped.

"Desperate times, child," Maleficent answered him, and in a flash the pot was bubbling up some magical substance, green steam rising. A section of the large red and white mushroom was tossed in- and as the steam turned gray, Henry came over to peer in.

"Whatever magic separates us from Merlin… you should be able to see through that boundary, Henry!" Maleficent said, folding her arms and Stepping back.

His curiosity drew him to look for Merlin in the steam. Faintly- a man's profile could be seen. Head of short, curly hair, shoulders draped with an old robe and cape. Faintly, he heard a young, worried voice say, "Oh no, the Dark One is coming!"

As Henry stared at this image, he saw Merlin come into focus- again and again he looked into Henry's eyes and then turned to look over his shoulder abruptly. Merlin's image-or soul, or whatever this was- he was stuck in a loop. "You must find Nimue! -Oh no, the Dark One is coming!"

"Whoa. I don't… know what this means," Henry said, relaying Merlin's message to Maleficent and Violet.

"It means this town needs to wake up and find out who Nimue is!" The house shook with thunder in the storm. Maleficent looked between the two youths-it seemed they had woken up from their stupor of the past several days.

Henry watched the echo of Merlin's message again, spying a hill and an altar behind him- and yes, a figure was coming up the hill for Merlin.

"You must find Nimue! -Oh no, the Dark One is coming!"

He called his mother's phone- no answer. He wasn't able to get through to either grandmother- but his grandfather answered, saying, "Stay where it's safe Henry! Your mom and Snow are going after the Dark One!" His baby was screaming in the background.

"Grandpa, I found out -Nimue is the key!" Henry was good at finding keys, but he wished there was more he could do- about what was behind them.

Wind, waves and blinding rain were making the deck of the Jolly Roger impassable. By the time Snow White reached the incapacitated Dark One, he was stirring- subconsciously gripping his dagger tight. The voice of his girlfriend roused him, whispering that he must get up- they were coming!

When Killian's eyes opened, he saw Snow White through the sheets of rain- and he sensed she wasn't alone. The heroes were very prompt in coming for his blades of power! He jumped up and grabbed the arm that had reached for his dagger, twisting it. Regina transported right next to them in an instant, but there was nothing she could do. Killian made sure of it- with magical shackles he conjured up that would limit her abilities.

Sopping wet Guinevere, Regina and Snow were transported to a daybed in the Captain's quarters, so Killian could glare at them, the witnesses to his work.

"So you came for the show, eh?" he asked eerily, getting out dry clothes, including a red trench coat and three-corner hat from a closet. He put on the outerwear of the ship's previous Captain, then said, as he locked the door to the little cabin, "It's just beginning. Sit tight- dearies."

With a poof of smoke, Killian Jones returned to the cave under his house. He tilted his hat and snapped his fingers- Rumpelstiltskin appeared before him, looking healthier than the last time they faced off in this cavern, but just as contemptuous.

"Dark One… you're really filling out your role," Rumpelstiltskin said through clenched teeth. The man who had abducted him had a pirate's hat and dusty old coat with tails, shirt buttons loose to reveal his reptilian scales, and longer black whiskers than ever- he was letting his freak flag fly at last.

"Pick. It. Up." Killian gestured exaggeratedly towards Excalibur. His prey would not resist the urge to attack him again with one of the only weapons that could hurt him. Once the lowly Crocodile grabbed the sword, Killian brought them both back to his ship's cabin.

Rumpelstiltskin was caught off guard- and stumbled over to the daybed to sit with the local matriarchs. Magical ropes leapt up from the floor and bound them all; they couldn't move, and due to her shackles, Regina couldn't conjure.

"You wanted to control me?" Killian accused Snow. "And not just in the way you control everyone else- by giving them hope, as long as they're good!" He pointed the Dark One dagger at Rumpelstiltskin, who quivered with anger as he struggled to raise up Excalibur. "You- you wanted to kill me? With that? Too bad heroes don't kill!"

The hand that Rumpelstiltskin once took from him, the healthy, regenerated hand that bore no rings, reached for Excalibur. It grew blue-green and gold scales and claws as it merged with Nimue ' s greedy hand-it shook as it eagerly grasped the hilt. Killian and Nimue were one! Together they wrested the sword of the stone away from the former Dark One they hated.

The vision of Emma, of course, had something to say. "Honey, please… don't do anything with Excalibur! Long ago Merlin appeared to me- and told me not to pull that sword from the stone, no matter what! It ought to stay safe in our basement, locked down in our cave..." She protested though she knew it was too late.

Killian said out of the corner of his mouth, "Shut up Emma. What will shut you up? The only way I can hurt you now- is to hurt everyone you care about!" Killian held up the two blades. "Merlin told us to believe in our future, and summon the original fire!"

Guinevere, Snow, Rumpelstiltskin and Regina gave each other confused looks.

Regina boldly asked, "Last time we saw Excalibur, Merlin s magic was tethered to it... His very soul was tethered to it. ... Where's Merlin?"

The crazed Captain turned away from them, and conjured an anvil next to his desk. "We don't have a future… I don't have a future. ... unless the Dark Ones are finally freed!" He muttered.

" _Where's Merlin_?" Snow asked.

Killian growled, " **We killed him**! With him and Emma gone, and the apprentice dead, there is only one wielder of light magic left in this town. " He nodded towards Regina and made her magical shackles tighten so she would wince in pain.

The rain was easing up, but the ambient lighting from the windows was still fading. Killian lit a couple oil lamps and set Excalibur's two halves on his anvil. Suddenly he felt crowded. The Dark Ones in his Head were innumerable, filling the ship's little cabin, all of them cheering.

"Nimue," Killian breathed, and she stepped forward from the crowd of hooded figures as summoned. She pulled out the stone box that held an ancient ember, and Killian made it burst into flame with his gaze- the flame hopped to his scaly hand gracefully.

"Don't do this!" Guinevere cried. "Whoever Nimue is- whatever she wants- her secrets are for the person worthy of Excalibur! Not… you!"

"What is this person going to do about it?" Killian whirled the flame around and threw it into his fireplace. "If I had a hammer…" He began to sing, as his fireplace roared. The other Dark Ones took up singing the old folk song.

He grinned at Rumpelstiltskin. "How about one appropriate for the occasion?" Killian conjured a particular hammer he had seen in Mr. Gold's pawnshop before, the decorated hammer of Hephaestus. "Now anyone can hammer this back together, whether they have magic or not. Who wants a turn? Ladies? Don't hold back now, jump right in!"

Rumpelstiltskin and the ladies no longer struggled against the ropes; they just glared at him. Instead the different visions of Dark Ones took turns at his side, helping him hold still the heated blades with tongs and strike them on the anvil.

Even Emma was by his side, for she could not stop him. "Merlin warned against this," she said somberly. "But you and me- we can deal with those warnings… If any Dark One has to do this, it's best that it's you and me. I am the Dark One who can steer towards the light…"

The ships rocking subsided as the waves calmed. The work was done; the long, elegantly beveled sword was whole. Its decorative engraved flowers by the base were unchanged; the scrawled name of the Dark One at its end was unchanged; the wavy, unusual tip was gleaming, as sharp as ever. The Dark Ones shouted and cheered as Killian cooled the sword in a basin of water, and held it up triumphantly in the cabin full of steam.

"Now what happens?" The heroes asked themselves worriedly.

Killian crouched down by the daybed and stroked his growing mustache. "Now you all go live your last days. I killed Merlin... to cast the curse that would bring you all back to your precious Storybrooke. Cherish it, while you can."

Suddenly they were transported to Grumpy's weathered boat. It docked in calm waters, and the heroes rushed home to break the news. The world was about to change, at the mercy of the Dark One- and Emma had not come back to save them.


	13. Carpe Diem

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Beginning of the end...

Chapter Thirteen

Carpe Diem

"He's coming for me. He's coming for everyone who has magic I'm sure- not just light magic!" Regina went over everything with Robin at his band's campsite, where he was picking up after the storm.

"So, Zelena?

"And Maleficent. Robin, we've got to warn them! - But, I don't want them to see me like this…" She frustratedly tugged at the shiny magical shackles. She couldn't have people thinking she was powerless.

"I don't mind you like this, Robin teased. At least I can… he moved in to nuzzle her neck and whisper in her ear. He led her off to his tent, the very place where they had first been intimate, because no amount of doom and gloom could dampen their desire for each other.

When Robin looked at her that way- everything else could wait.

After Grumpy dropped her off at the marina full of houseboats, Guin gathered the knights to conference. Their king had run away, the royal reliquary had been stolen, and the Dark One seemed poised to strike down anyone with light magic who could protect them.

"Merlin, the great sorcerer who we were told could help mend our kingdom- and all kingdoms- he is dead," she announced. "But there is more. More is being kept from us. Princess Snow White has said that Merlin's magic was tied to the sword, Excalibur. There may be a way…" she caught each man's gaze, to ignite his courage and ingenuity.

Young Tristan spoke up. "Merlin's magic… we thought it could get us back home! Can his magic still do that, even if he can't?"

"There are memories that Snow White has, that we know nothing about!" Galahad said.

"We've been left out long enough by the so- called leaders of this land! Said Gawain.

We wouldn't know what's going on, if you hadn't insisted, your majesty," added Bors. If you must insist again… insist that we see the hoops of memories of all the questers!"

She agreed to work together with Snow white and Regina. The queen held her head high as she began a shivery walk to Storybrooke, followed by a small guard. She left the knights to hide their families and shore up defenses for any attack on East Storybrooke. "Should Arthur come crawling back, she said as a parting comment, "Tell him he's in the doghouse for a long time."

Gawain scoffed, "Your majesty- he prefers the company of men."

Guin whirled around to look sharply at all the knights of the round table, who nodded and shrugged, then dispersed- they were giving her space to deal with her embarrassment. She felt the ground drop out from under her, and her stomach turn over. Everyone knew - what she should have seen years ago- and only now they felt free to tell her! She came to the wide-eyed realization that Arthur didn't love her, even remotely. He had kept her by his side to cover up his own proclivities- how long had it been this way? He hadn't loved her. He wouldn't love her; he wouldn't be making anything up to her. He couldn't love her! That was what hurt the most. There was nothing that could ever make things right between them, and no reason for him to beg her forgiveness so they could begin again- if he just couldn't really love her!

As night descended, Rumpelstiltskin sat in his shop, drinking to the inevitable end- yet again. To his horror, he heard the little chime at the locked front door. Belle had come back just in time for his enemy's endgame!

"Rumpel! I was forty miles to New York and-"

"Belle! You're back? What happened, what do you need?"

"I don't want to have this adventure without you! I realized I could drive the whole country and still, what I want is right here!" she shed her coat on the way in and threw her arms around his neck. She covered him with kisses. "Rumpel, you were letting me go off and- it's the most selfless thing you've ever done, in your new life!"

He wanted to firmly push her away and out of danger, but it was so easy to meld into this long awaited embrace. He thought of having her pack for him and go on ahead, as though he would catch up to her road trip later- but thoughts gave way to passions and he couldn't help but kiss back. They hurried to the cot in the back room, burning for the kind of touch that they had just a taste of, the other week. All Rumpelstiltskin could manage was a question, a question that ought need no explanation or disclaimers. "You're sure you want me- and all that comes with-?"

She was sure.

Couples and families all over town clung to each other as the word spread that the Dark One was back and more powerful than ever. But Zelena, the wicked witch, was alone in the basement asylum of the hospital, with nothing but her growing belly to mark the passage of days. She read a storybook to her unborn child and sipped vegetable soup for yet another dinner. She thought she heard boots in the hallway outside her padded door- uncharacteristic of the nurse or the others imprisoned here. She thought she heard a low snicker outside, but dismissed it- Until pain wracked her body and made her hyper aware, paranoid. Something was wrong- she spit out her soup. Her belly was expanding before her, and she felt the kicks of her little munchkin, stronger than ever before!

The nurse opened the door for a visitor just as Zelena knocked over her dinner tray and screamed, "What's happening!?"

Robin Hood's jaw dropped. "You're only four months pregnant - you can't be-"

Zelena panted with labor pains and held her belly that suddenly protruded 5-inches. "Get me to a doctor, you dolt!"

Robin got her a wheelchair and they rushed to the elevator. "Breathe- remember to breathe!" he said, panicking.

"Yeah, I was a fake midwife, I know the drill!" she shouted.

Robin felt as helpless as when Roland had been born.

Regina responded quickly to his text, showing up at the hospital with an unseasonably warm gray coat and matching muff, to hide her shackles.

"It's happening so fast!"

"We're going to be parents together, all over again, Regina!"

"Let's just deal with the magic that's causing this, and take one thing at a time," she said, with a long exhale. She was concerned, seeing her sister in pain, as much as they hated each other. She was concerned about what lengths Zelena would go to, to keep her own baby- and to be a wicked influence in the young life.

"After being a single father-and you being a single mother for so long- it will be amazing to raise this child together." He hugged Regina from the side, who absent- mindedly stroked his light brown hair that was touched with gray.

Before they knew it, Dr. Whale proclaimed, "It's a girl!"

As she and Robin witnessed the miracle of birth, Regina was happy for the father-but still her mind thought of the worst. "There are a variety of spells that actually utilize baby parts- I can't imagine what the Dark One is planning!" she muttered to herself.

"Don't let the Dark One take my baby!" Zelena cried.

"We'll protect her," Regina resolved. "No matter what, Robin will be a better parent than you…"

"How? I have magic-" Zelena exasperatedly pulled on her leather cuff that stopped it- "and I have captured and controlled a Dark One before! Not you!"

Robin reached for the red, wailing newborn that clutched Zelena's chest. He put an arm around his baby girl gently, as Zelena held her and wouldn't let go. He wondered how Regina would protect them, without her powers. Would it be better for the babe, if Zelena had her powers back, at this point?

Throughout the night the three of them took turns holding the baby and sleeping - Robin and Regina on the couch in the maternity ward. The new mother was too exhausted to fight the father over the custody arrangement, right now. She had tricked him in order to get a child, and she could trick him again, somehow, to get full custody.

Henry started his day early; he had serious homework to do. Snow White had given him the news that his mother was really gone and- perhaps had never been here. He and Roland had spent the night with the Charmings, staying up late to theorize what all the sword Excalibur could do- in the form of stories, for the younger boy's sake. This morning, there was nothing Henry could do with his feelings but focus on how to foil the Dark One's plans. He threw some brain food in his backpack and headed to the library, with his grandmother Snow graciously following his lead.

Belle met them there to help research the phenomena of yesterday, which her husband had so vividly described- the summoning of Nimue, and the melding of the Dark One dagger and the spiritual sword that had held onto Merlin's magic. No one knew how close she had come to putting all this chaos behind her- no one knew why now, she felt more connected and committed to this place than ever.

Henry started making a database on his laptop for all the connections between Arthurian characters in primary source documents, with his grandmothers' help. "This could be really useful, if we survive this Dark One," he said grimly.

Snow White was practically tearing out her short black boy-cut hair, as she thought about the husband and baby she was neglecting. From time to time she would get up to pace the aisles and say under her breath, "If these are really our last days, I don't want to spend them with my nose in a book."

Guinevere had approached her last night and asked to be in on the events of their missed weeks. It hadn't been fair, when Snow had seen all Camelot's memories through their eyes and the people had only later, gradually gotten their dream catchers. Snow had gladly shared all the notes from watching the experiences of questers, as well as plenty of clothes for the current culture and climate - plenty no longer fit Snow after she'd had her baby.

She had invited Guinevere to come help them research the key to the joined Excalibur- Nimue. Even with the volumes that had come with the Curses of Storybrooke, and that had been appropriated from the Sorcerer's private library to this one, it was nearly a hopeless search- every story misrepresented people somewhat, every story omitted.

Guinevere and Belle found they had a lot in common. They both had married strong, overbearing men, who were obsessed with magic spells and the Dark One dagger. They had both been desperate enough to seek out the Dark One vault, which was not the sort of adventure that either had been hoping for when they tried to save their men. When there, Belle had managed to bring her beloved back from death, with Neal's help—when there, at the Source, Guinevere had failed to relieve her husband from his obsession with the dagger. Both had resorted to using the same artifact, the enchanted gauntlet of truth, to find the thing that their husbands loved most: the Dark One dagger. This was the sad reality that made them rather ambivalent, insular, slow to trust others, but quick to find hope in stories and independent research. Though royalty, they had not gotten much of a chance to rule- instead, they found themselves running from crisis to crisis, trying to be brave heroines for their people.

Now they searched for some clue connecting Nimue and Merlin, and the origins of the Dark One. Emma Swan, the last Dark One, had intended to rid the Darkness from herself and all the realms, at last, but their memories of that endeavor in Camelot were disjointed. Had every one failed her, even with their good intentions to support the struggle against darkness? Had they not been enough help in Camelot- too slow to realize King Arthur's betrayal, too weak against Arthur and Zelena and their plot to control, rather than relieve, the Dark One? Had Emma given up, collapsed under the burden of being both the Dark One and her people's Savior? Had she really killed herself, as Hook said-or had he killed her? And why- what did that say about love?

Belle was in love with a Dark One, and had been close to him for many years, but never dreamed of taking his power. Now Belle revealed to her fellow confused Camelot survivors that there were Dark One books, too esoteric and fragile to approach except in desperate times. They were history, theory and instruction, and they had been locked in a closet of the library, not relevant enough to bring up to others until now. Belle had not wanted to reveal these volumes, to protect Rumpelstiltskin, as well. But that was before.

The Dark One tomes were dense and confusing, and Guinevere and the knights that joined them frequently needed Belle s help translating or following a passage.

"Nimue is the key," Guinevere said, "just like young prince Henry heard in his vision of Merlin. The name is here, several times..."

Belle cross-referenced the two volumes she and the Queen of Camelot were reading. What made the Dark One so dark... it was here, implied. It was murder- a long ago murder that began the tradition. Not just a murder but also an accompanying death of one's former self. Had Nimue been murdered? Was he or she the first sacrifice to the darkness?

Guinevere was wondering if Arthur had decoded this mystery. Had he been able to find Nimue - and had it been such a disaster that he had to remove everyone's memories, even his own? Or had Arthur been playing them all along- had he in fact retained his memories of what happened in Camelot after the arrival of the modern day heroes?

These modern day heroes had made the situation with the Dark One worse when they lied, when they'd entered Camelot. They had lied about their identities, saying that they were there trying to destroy the Dark One- when in fact the Dark One was a woman among them. Somehow the famed dagger had traded hands since then. To everyone's horror, they were not dealing with the Dark One who had also had light magic- the Dark One who was also the savior of this world- the Dark One who had her immense potential for darkness already cast out of her- instead they were now dealing with the Dark One who was a bloodthirsty pirate, and had been cunningly preserving his life for hundreds of years already. His cunning preceded his dark magic.

As the tired Queen mulled over these thoughts, Belle tried to explain that this man had attacked her before. Almost killed her before. But she was saved by magic-and that was back when he was just a man! They would need not only knowledge but also light magic to defeat him now.

Guinevere's knights talked to each other in hushed tones in the library.

Sir Bronwyn tenderly asked, "Lady Belle, what was it that had defeated the Dark One that you knew so well? Rumpelstiltskin- what had made him into a mere man again?

"Well," she said, "the wand of the sorcerer Merlin- a very powerful one he had left behind. And, the darkness was purged from Rumpelstiltskin only at a time of extreme desperation, because he was weakened. Do we really have time to wait for Killian Jones to be weakened by his own long career, centuries of misdeeds? Do we have time to wait for his heart to blacken beyond recognition?"

The knights shook their heads, and exchanged looks full of dread. The Dark One was planning something and everyone in town could feel it. Wind rushed quickly down the streets and alleys, whipping flags about. Everywhere the air seemed tense. The atmosphere had an electric charge to it.

As Guinevere opened a window to get some air, she remembered the hopeful orphan boy who had playfully showed her around Camelot when her family first moved there. She remembered running through the forest with him and having to guess which old tree was the magical tree that whispered to him and gave him visions. She hadn't been able to guess it was the majestic tan willow at the edge of town and the woods. He would put his hand on the trunk gingerly and close his eyes, his palm resting careful on the bark the way he would later touch books and artifacts. As though trying to absorb knowledge from magical books and treasures, with respect and awe.

Guinevere had to get out of the stuffy library then, before she became overwhelmed by nostalgia. She stepped outside to look around- the air was strangely brisk for early afternoon and the sky was green, ominous. She remembered an ominous feeling many an afternoon when walking with Arthur, going between the same houses to beg for his meals, and often dodging into alleys and shadows with him to avoid the pushy older kids. They would bully him just because he had no family, and they could. Guinevere had felt so threatened, so out of place... over the years she had bought into his paranoia and moves for power. She had been proud of him when he was chosen to work for a young squire and learn defensive arts... and all along, he told her the most wonderful stories. About them as King and Queen. About the Sorcerer in the tree, and his owl familiar, Archimedes, that seemed to watch over them.

A few times Archimedes had led them towards the woods, or to the coast, where they would peer through Camelot's dense fog at twilight, glimpsing the bright wisps and fairies that bobbed about mysteriously. They grew into teenagers who did almost everything together-but she alone had spied Lancelot through the fog one night, when he was also out looking for fairies. They had shared a smile that Arthur never noticed, and it left Lancelot and Guinevere wondering, for the rest of their lives, whether it was love at first sight that they felt.

Where was Lancelot now? Why had he made an appearance in Camelot after the arrival of Snow White and her friends, proving that he was still alive and well, and yet not come with everyone to this new world of Storybrooke?

Perhaps he was hiding in the woods where the Curse had first deposited the knights and their families.

Guinevere rubbed her eyes, so disillusioned now, no longer blinded by loyalty to Arthur. She could really use a friend like Lancelot now.

"I'm here for you," Will said.

Maleficent accepted a hug from her new friend, Will Scarlet. She had just gotten the news from Regina that the Dark One was jealous for magical dominance, and likely would be coming for her. Maleficent had the capacity for light magic, according to her old friend Regina, who had always built her up. Unfortunately, that capacity could prompt Captain Hook to try to snuff her out, along with all the light in this world.

"Thank you, Will," she said. "It's a lot to… take in, and I don't know what to do." She ought to be planning a preemptive attack with Regina, but the younger witch-queen was really busy with a new baby in the family - a niece she was intent on raising. Maleficent felt left out, alone, about ready to give up.

"Aye, but 'ats what friends are for," said the thief and former Knave of Hearts. He took packages out of his backpack as they sat at the municipal park together- chicken wings and charcoal. This was his way of being hospitable to his friend's mother, who had been so hospitable towards him. She provided the fire for the grill, as it was hard to keep things lit this windy day.

"Did you ever find your other friend, Lancelot?" she asked, and downed a dropper full of homemade Belladonna and Absinthe tincture.

"Nah," Will said. "And without his dream catcher, Sir Lancelot wouldn't even remember me… or Lily." As he cooked them lunch, he heard splashes out in the middle of the lake. "Should've brought fishing poles, right?"

"Maybe I can still help you, before the Dark One comes for me," Maleficent said, her tone still thick with self-pity. "We can use up the mushroom… and try to communicate with your friend from Camelot, in case there is some kind of magical boundary that's preventing him from being found."

"Thanks and all," the thin young man said, "but- it wouldn't work if he didn't choose me ahead of time, right? There's someone I… would much rather try to talk with, if you'd give me that chance." His large, tired brown eyes looked off, sorrowfully.

"Say no more," Maleficent said. A tin cup from Will's pack made a handy cauldron for a small spell. Will concentrated on his love, Anastasia, as he had last seen her. The Red Queen of Wonderland, affectionately nicknamed the White Queen in recent years, for her benevolence and generosity- she'd had her hair down, beautiful white bodice on with a sheer sash over her shoulders. Surely she still loved her White King? Surely she would choose to speak with him, even though circumstances kept them apart?

"Anastasia," Will whispered, as he leaned into the steam above the little tin cup cauldron on the park grill. The swirling steam formed the shape of a woman, vaguely- then he recognized her youthful face, her wide-set jaw, her low hairline. She turned toward him, confused.

"Will- are you- really there? Why am I seeing you in a fog?"

"I just missed you," he said, tearing up. "You left me, to be a realm jumper, and -I wanted to go after you! But… my page was ripped out of our story, in a way… I still don't know why, I couldn't go after you—and I've been stuck in the Land Without Magic!"

"Will," Anastasia' s image responded, suspiciously. "You must have gotten a hold of _some_ magic, to reach me like this. I've been in between realms of story, Will! You wouldn't be able to handle all the magic that is required, to live this way!"

"You learned a lot, from ol' White Rabbit, huh?"

"Yes, you wouldn't believe the things I've seen! There are mysteries in this… in between place… mysteries of different lands, which I alone will be able to solve!"

"Would you be able to... put our story back together?" Will asked the tiny image. Maleficent gave him some space, as he covered his mouth to prevent crying. The steam was starting to dissipate.

"I would, if there were a way… for me to have you and this power," Anastasia said measuredly. She seemed to hold something back—in her eyes, Will saw the answer. She must have ripped their pages out of their story, to prevent him from following her into that inhospitable, unimaginable place.

"At least you're being honest," he said. They'd had their love, they'd had respect and power as White King and Queen of Wonderland- but she still had wanted to push the boundaries of her magic… She had wanted more. He couldn't blame her for wanting more- he had wanted more as well, so no matter his standing in life, he snuck around, he stole.

There was nothing left to say, but "I love you."

Meanwhile Killian's mood darkened the choppy waters and the fast moving clouds in the sky. A limping, bloodied ghost of his girlfriend followed him as he paced the deck of the Jolly Roger. Her silent, mournful eyes looked down when he glanced over his shoulder at her. "I have made Excalibur whole," he grumbled. "Not Arthur. Not you. You'd had your chance..."

Emma's ghost acknowledged this. Maybe Merlin had appeared to her in her childhood... to prevent her from joining the sword and the dagger when she later became the Dark One, which altered the balance of power between good and evil, in all the worlds. His sight into the future was surely better than hers or Killian's, magical novices that they were. Had Merlin known that, given a chance, she would kill herself with the blade before she did something evil? Had he known that she would later become part of the Dark One who WOULD join the sword back together, in order to free the Dark Ones of the past? Emma couldn't stop beating herself up over this.

With a wave of the long fated blade, Killian's magic directed the sails and booms, guiding the Jolly Roger to shore. He commanded the ship without crew, just with the strength of will now.

"I will rule... much more than East Storybrooke! I will trade these people of Camelot and the Enchanted Forest for a kingdom of Darkness, and I, the rightful leader! I have earned Excalibur, and I shall decide who lives and who dies!" He transported up to the Crow's nest to glare at Storybrooke from above. Not even the ghosts in his head knew his plan. Soon, the mortals who wanted revenge for Emma's death would be out of his way... soon, he would trap the Dark Ones here in Storybrooke, where they would first feel the ecstasy of freedom and new life, only to be punished all the more by Killian, the sacred sword bearer who could end them at any time. He looked forward to an eternity of punishing people who deserved it. Nimue, Rumpelstiltskin, Zoso, the damn talking boar, even Emma. She would pay for what she had done in Camelot, the lies she had encouraged him to tell her family, and most of all what she'd done to him…

Guinevere wrapped her wool pea coat close to her and walked around Gentleman's Lake, hoping an answer would come to her. Snow White had already gone over different scenarios with her- they couldn't trap the dark pirate, like Snow had trapped a previous Dark One with the signature penned by a magic quill- the Captain was not really one for deals or signing his name to things. The heroes couldn't rely on the immobilizing power of squid ink, a substance they had long been out of. They couldn't lure him back to sanity with people he cared about, because his family and his girlfriend were dead.

As she pondered, Guin felt like she was being watched. She looked around- something was moving in the lake. Besides her reflection in the lake- she thought she saw a large, dark shape sliding swiftly below! Then it was gone, the rocky bottom was peaceful.

"Guin!" said a warm, strong voice behind her.

Turning, she couldn't believe her eyes or ears. Her lifelong friend Lancelot, tall, black, muscled, calm- and wet- Lancelot was coming up the path, in a clinging red tunic and chain mail shirt. He was barefoot and draped with Milfoil and Lily pads, smiling that serene smile she so missed.

"Lance!" Guinevere ran to hug him. "Where have you been?"

"Laying low-until I saw your familiar face!" He dried off his bare head and face with her kerchief, stretched out his arms and shoulders and took a deep breath. "There's so much… I should tell you. Let's sit down…"

Finding a park bench, Lancelot shook off the weeds and dived right in. "Guinevere-I've missed you. You chose Arthur but I -never moved on from you."

"No, no, I was… tricked," she said, looking down. "I apologize… I never visited you in the dungeon, I never-" He stopped her by gently taking her hands. They both breathed sighs of relief and leaned close, feeling for once like perhaps everything would be alright. Guin felt his forgiveness, his longing, his warmth despite the chill, and almost melted into their kiss…

"There's something you should know. About me." Lancelot interrupted their embrace. "Guin, I am… a shape-shifter. I'm a… monster."

She didn't comprehend- until he turned his left arm to spikes and scales, his left hand to enormous claws, and back again to wide, strong, gentle human hands. Her jaw dropped.

"I may be a monster, but I would never trick you like Arthur did. I had… a thousand chances to trick you, take Arthur's shape so that you would be close to me, thinking I was he. But I never did. I love you... I couldn't do that to you." He bowed his head. "Instead, I've only shifted between my real shape... and this one… and when I know there are people trying to trap or kill me, I shrink, I disappear. I go back to the water, where I'm from… You see, I'm a coward, Guin! I only take this human form, to appear strong and brave."

"You've been a creature-all along? And you've been living in the lake?" Guinevere asked while looking him over again in disbelief.

He nodded. "I must have been brought here by magic. I arrived- in this little lake, so mixed up and confused… I saw there was trouble-weeks ago-a spiritual presence in the lake, on the nights of the full moon. And this presence, it took with it a dragon! I didn't emerge because I was scared, didn't know what to do…"

"Surely you heard or saw Arthur there, defeating the dragon, those terrible nights?"

"Yes. You know I've made myself scarce, around him… " Lancelot spoke to her low, with intensity. "He hates other creatures. He wants to control them."

Guinevere's hands clenched into fists, her anger and confusion roiling her stomach. "So Arthur knows - he knows you're a shape-shifter? Has everyone known- but me- all this time?"

Lancelot smiled to himself. "The knights kept my secret then. Yes, lady Guin. Those who joined me on quests and in battle knew of my abilities. That's why I got nicknamed Siege Perilous and Leviathan… the Round Table had a water monster on its side, ensuring its victories."

"I thought we _knew_ each other!" Guin said, in a small voice.

He drew back; the wind across the lake whipped around them and they shivered in their sadness. "The shape you know is the shape I've been most of my life. I was born to a monster… and I dreamed of escaping my mother somehow."

She shook her head.

He hugged himself against the cold, thinking of the sly succubus that swam about and imitated animals to mate and kill animals, and imitated women from men's fantasies to seduce and drown men that came by- the so-called Lady of the Lake. Lancelot had watched all this, disgusted, and had known that his own father had met this fate- he must have been a hero seeking the healing waters of Lake Nostros, and he had been tricked into giving the siren a child, before she killed him!

"One night I wished upon a twinkling blue star, I wished to become a real human boy who could leave Lake Nostros and my… murdering mother. My wish was granted by the Blue Fairy! She taught me to transform into a boy and slip away, through the woods… I could live like a runaway in Camelot, and the Blue Fairy would protect me, as long as I was selfless, brave, and true… You see, Guinevere, that's how I grew up! Just as the boy you knew!"

He felt powerless in her skeptical stare. He pushed back his tears. "I'm sorry I haven't been brave lately. Even when I heard the voices of old friends at the lake's edge- I stayed hidden."

"Well, you don't have to worry about Arthur, he's run off. He's one less thing to be afraid of…" Guinevere folded her arms and sadly said, "But you haven't been true, either, Lancelot."

He stood, then, and took his original form. Transforming into the water dragon he had been in childhood, he showed her his secret, and hoped that they could then trust each other as they had long ago. He became a dark column of twisting ribbony whiskers, shrunk down to half his size, then unfolded fins and gills and wings all along his slender, smooth scaled body. He glided gracefully up into the air, floating back and forth above the park and higher into the sky. Lancelot grew as scales cascaded out of his folds, growing to the size of a bus and spouting smoke from several points. His large glistening eyes on either side of his head saw an amazed Queen Guinevere below - as well as a smartly dressed lady and a scruffy young man, running up the path. They were waving wildly at him.

Coming back down to earth, Lancelot was greeted with hugs by these strangers, even as he was finishing his transformation into a man.

"Sir Lancelot! Speak of the devil!" The pale young man said. "You don't remember us, but- you and Lily and me, we ran together in Camelot."

"Lily was my daughter," the older woman rushed to explain. "A shape shifter like you! Here, this will help." She reached into her trenchcoat's inner pocket, and handed him a hoop of aspen branch with an intricate design woven in the middle. "Your memories of those forgotten weeks- they're in there!"

Guinevere came over to introduce herself. Maleficent was stunning and intimidating -another shape-shifter! Her friend, Will Scarlet, was a bit shy, worn down, but amiable. He had an assortment of tightly rolled pairs of jeans in his backpack, happily offered to Lancelot so he'd have something dry to wear.

As the four tried to quickly get to know each other, an owl lighted on a nearby pine tree. A beautiful brown barn owl with a ghost white face. "This is quite a day for reunions!" Guinevere said, smiling and squinting up at the age-old animal friend of Merlin's.

"Archimedes!" Lancelot recognized him too! The owl silently flew around them and lighted again- under the gaze of his black, knowing eyes, he and Guinevere felt like things could be whole again.

"If you know him, then, in a way, you knew the Sorcerer," Maleficent said. "Come, I'll show you the home that he made for himself here. Somewhere private… where I can give you your memories back. " She transported them all to the comfort of the wood and stone mansion that the Sorcerer had prepared, with subtle influence on the second Curse of Storybrooke, for his hopes of making it here.

The park was deserted when Killian and his entourage of spirits got there. Killian carried the ancient Excalibur in a long alligator skin sheath strapped to his back, and a new switchblade in his pocket. He was aware of the heroes guarding the hospital, frightened for the wicked witch's newborn. Meanwhile others were questioning the Crocodile, certain that the history of Nimue and Merlin would reveal his current plan. Killian chuckled darkly. They were fools. Fools he used to follow around. They would never guess that he could sick monsters from this lake on them, even at the time of the new moon.

He cut his hand with the switchblade and held his bleeding palm over the clear lake water. It was the time of day when the full moon would be at its zenith - facing the other side of the earth.

He was the Dark One to end all Dark Ones, and he could summon the ferryman from his work around the world, if he wanted to. Dark droplets hit the lake's water; he healed his cut with magic and waited. Nimue told him this would work.

The sky darkened with heavy clouds, as though night was coming here early. Steam rose up from the lake into the cold, suddenly still, air. It thickened to a fog, a fog that was broken by one lantern approaching the shore from the middle of the lake. Killian Jones marveled at the little rowboat heralded by this eerie lantern held high- a rowboat with standing room only for the many robed and hooded Dark Ones!

"Welcome to Storybrooke!" he said, tipping his three-corner hat to them. The ferry from the afterlife could not land; twenty-one shadowy figures jumped into the water and waded to him. Only the first and last, Nimue and Emma Swan, showed their faces. "This is how it works: you get one night and one day!"

No longer just visions, the Dark Ones marched forward as living men, women and beasts, embodied as in their prime. "One night and one day—in the flesh," Nimue said, "unless we claim lives that would be ours!"


	14. Last Day on Earth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Will the Dark Ones take over?

Chapter Fourteen

Last Day on Earth

Rumpelstiltskin shivered suddenly. He took a moment to listen within- his renewed heart was beating fast, and the whispers of a jumble of voices- gone! For the first time since he was a mortal man, without the dagger, the voices were really gone!

He was helping Belle lock up the library when he came to this realization.

"Rumpel, what's wrong?" she asked.

"Something's changed with the Dark One…" he looked off down the street, pained.

"What does that mean? Does it have to do with Merlin and the original Dark One?"

"No, sweetheart, I told you, I told the others, I don't have all the Dark Ones' memories anymore…" He leaned heavily on his cane as they walked to their car. "I have enough derived magic here to work a protection spell -and protect us, in this car, that's all!" Rumpelstiltskin showed her a metal snuffbox that appeared to be empty. "We need to draw the spell around us with this invisible chalk, and then get in the car! And hurry, Belle!" He snapped the chalk and handed her half- it would be a struggle for him to crouch down on the street and draw the entire circle himself.

A mob of silent hooded figures was filling quiet Main Street. Belle screamed as two short, seemingly faceless people started running towards them.

Rumpelstiltskin knew she wanted him to explain, and protect her- he wasn't sure he could, as his back gave out while he bent to draw invisible chalk on the pavement. "I don't know if this will work- but let's hurry!" Rumpelstiltskin and Belle Gold's bits of chalk met as they came around the car and completed their circle -but it was too late. They didn't move inside it in time- the mysterious men in black robes were upon them, running as though to barrel right through the two of them- slanted yellow eyes shining!

Rumpelstiltskin covered his love the best he could, with an awkward hug, but the former Dark Ones come to life slammed into the two of them- and instead of knocking them over, they passed right through the Golds! They flinched -fear, fear as cold and encompassing as a tidal wave, chilled their bones.

Lancelot had hurried to meet with old friends this evening, because the strange weather and the electricity going off and on across the town were signs that the Dark One was on the move. After Maleficent had activated his missing memories, Lancelot knew he had to update Snow and Charming on his failed mission to get insight from his mother. He quickly gave Snow White and Prince Charming a blessing over their baby at a short baptism in the sink at the Sheriff's Office, agreeing to be Neal's godfather, should some of them not survive the impending crisis. Then they got down to business.

"When we last spoke- I thought I could help you to counter Arthur and relieve the Dark One! My mother had… experience with the Dark One," Lancelot explained. "She was the Lady of the Lake… and honestly, I shed no tears when I heard she died…"

Charming looked down, unsure how to feel about having killed her. Lancelot never mentioned this before.

"Though Lake Nostros dried up, I could still sense her… spirit… in other lakes," Lancelot went on. "And since she was someone who had ardently tried to become a Dark One… I thought I could gain some insight from her spirit, by living in a lake!"

The pensive knight was interrupted by telephones ringing- dispatch call after dispatch call was coming in, and the Charmings couldn't keep up with all the sightings of masked and hooded threatening strangers.

Snow called her stepmother's cell, panicking. "Regina! You need to hide that baby! People are coming for-" Snow lost all words, at the sight of a centaur draped in black, galloping up to the office window. His human arms started breaking glass so he could climb in- Neal screamed and cried- Charming's gun blasts did not stop him.

"If these are but extensions of the Dark One," Lancelot shouted above the clamor, "then maybe I can shield you! The Dark One should recognize me as the son of the Lady of the Lake, an opponent he respected!" He shifted his shape, from a tall, built man to a zigzag of smoke and scales, extending his body and tail to surround his friends.

Charming stuttered, "Lancelot, you're a-you're a-"

Lancelot started, as he felt an intruder from the window- and from the door- pushing past him- his transformation was too late- he could not shelter the little family! The hooded centaur and a swift black-clad hunchback came through from opposite directions and charged Snow and Charming- passing right through each of them, then taking off down the hall.

Snow shuddered in terror. "We're… alright, Neal's alright…" she tried to assure herself. But her inner wrist burned with bumps. The darkness had come, and left an image of an insect seared on her wrist and Charming's- but not Neal's.

The growing dragon, winding and floating about the office, looked down at his human friends- he thought of Guinevere. He zipped out the broken windows back to the Sorcerer's Mansion to do what he could for her.

Across town, at Storybrooke Hospital, Henry was scrubbing his hands so he could meet and try to hold his aunt's new baby.

Today he had only learned that Nimue fought Merlin once, imprisoned him in the form of a tree, and was only stopped by someone else who later seized the Dark One power. The driving force of almost all Dark Ones was to snuff out the light- that could mean light magic or just the light of hope and love in people. Right now, it seemed to mean that the literal light from the sky was gone!

He joined his mother, the queen, who made him feel safe. She and her boyfriend were ushering his aunt Zelena and her baby down the hall, on their wheeled hospital bed. "What now?" he asked.

"We've got to hide, someone is coming! Hit the elevator- down!" His mother ordered.

"This won't be fast enough!" Robin said in frustration. "Let Zelena magic us away from here!" Four people in all black, with hoods hiding their faces, burst through the maternity ward doors, running at them.

"No-no, we can't trust her!" Regina took a wide stance between Henry and the strangers. Henry saw that her hands-beneath the muff, they were shackled!

Robin swiftly pried the magic-binding cuff from Zelena's wrist-at least he could do something about _this_ handicap. "Get us out of here!"

Zelena waved her sore wrist and caused a spiral of green smoke to heal her from the swift labor, then carry her and the child away to parts unknown.

Her outraged younger sister whirled around to face Robin. "How could you? There goes your daughter!" She gasped, as the force of a Dark One walking right through her made her freeze- she saw a different Dark One pass through her boyfriend, like a ghost.

Henry felt the force of a great evil entering his body, grabbing his wrist. A woman with ruddy blue-green complexion, menacing, yellowed eyes, and wide lips was suddenly stepping into him, holding his right side and burning something into his right forearm with magic.

She whispered to him, "You. You were prophesied to be Rumpelstiltskin's undoing. Shame you never got around to ending that old man so he could join the dead Dark One parade. You wanted to know all about me? Well, here I am."

"Nimue?" Henry eked.

She nodded. "What you can't figure out is why I was able to drink from the same Holy Grail as Merlin... You see, I am worthy of magic. That's what that means."

Henry struggled to separate from her -he couldn't.

"Power for power's sake... it must be a worthy endeavor. That's why the grail let me live and gave me magic. That's what you'll spend eternity trying to figure out. " Nimue shook him as she walked right through, and Henry passed out.

 

"Grab your mortal while you can, Emma. All the other Dark Ones are doing it. They're seizing their place in this world."

"No thanks."

Killian Jones the pirate captain and Emma Swan the dark sorceress walked leisurely along the road, pulled towards holding each other's hands- but holding back. Killian admired her healthy glowing skin, her tall and thin figure in that tight black dress and open robe, her long dark lashes batting slowly as she looked around, took it all in. Why wouldn't she want to stay like this?

"Let me… _flesh out_ the deal," he said. "Mark someone… someone who you had spread your light to, when you were the Savior. When the ferry returns, they'll be on it and you get to live out the rest of your years!"

"Not interested in deals. I don't think you are either," Emma said. "But speaking of fleshing things out…" She looked at his hands and gave him a knowing smirk.

Killian enchanted his regenerated hand so it appeared as a hook again. "Better?"

Emma smiled and held his hook as they walked to their house, the place waiting to be made a home. "I'm just interested in making the most of this day with you."

In a flash, they were in their master suite, filling the Jacuzzi tub. Emma wanted to really feel, really see, smell and taste life again. She wanted his lips on her neck as she washed off the stale numbness of her afterlife.

"Aren't you… going to try to save everyone?" Killian asked, as he kept his hand to himself with a tremendous effort.

"In life I was… roped into being responsible for everyone. Too many times. I wish I could save you, if anyone… but I can't."

Killian nodded seriously. She understood. His sexy, demure, practical, insightful Emma was back.

As the town filled with fearful marked mortals who hid indoors in the raging storm, Hook and Swan got reacquainted.

As Snow, Charming, Henry, Archie Hopper, Granny, Regina, Robin, and the Golds met to agonize over their new raised scars and what they meant, the latest Dark Ones drank rum in fancy glasses and whetted their thirst for each other.

Just as the mayors spread the word to every neighbor that Henry's findings would be shared at Town Hall in the morning, Emma and Killian threw on clothes to answer the door. An unexpected, hollow-eyed houseguest- Arthur was seeking amnesty. He had been hiding and running from Merida, an old enemy who hunted him, in a land where he was already persecuted. The Dark One had taken everything from him. Killian figured the least he could do was invite the poor man in for strong drinks and a game of strip poker. Arthur lost in just a few hands, but stuck around to be of further service to the Dark Ones as they explored each other.

He bowed and bent and stretched, licked and swallowed, exhilarated by moves he found more gratifying than—the few times he had cheated on Guin, confused outbursts he'd tried to bury in his memories. Those times had been rushed, not as thorough and intentional as this night lengthened by the Dark One's stamina. The situation was so wrong, but it felt so right, for once.

When the storm finally moved on, Snow and Regina gathered everyone at Storybrooke Town Hall. Regina's shackles had disappeared after her encounter with the Dark One- seeming to affirm that there was nothing she or her magic could do about the marks.

Many showed their strange scars. Snow White, David, Henry, Robin, Regina, Archie Hopper, Mr. and Mrs. Gold, the dwarves, Anton the giant, Granny, Pinocchio, Cinderella and her Prince Thomas, Princess Aurora, and Maleficent. Many more were there, concerned. The marks showing elongated body, two wings and two legs on each side were compared and studied. The designs on their wrists and forearms were all the same, and reminded people of monsters that fly, harbingers of death- the Furies.

Meanwhile, twenty-one Dark Ones ambled through streets, alleys and city parks. They tagged the wishing well and plaque with spray paint, hung wreaths of dead small game on the Welcome to Storybrooke and Welcome to East Storybrooke signs, and cooked themselves early breakfasts over trash can fires on street corners. They chased the Merry Men out of the woods and set up booby traps along walking paths. The Dark Ones threw back their hoods and shouted out exuberant battle cries, for their reign was beginning. If any marked mortal tried to escape, then a Fury would chase them to the ends of the earth.

Back at Killian and Emma's house by the sea, the two woke lazily for some morbid pillow talk. Excalibur glistened on the mantle, opposite their bed. Killian confessed that he didn't know if he had wanted to kill her or make love to her when he saw her last night... but not even Excalibur could kill her on this day of the dead, for she was already dead. He wondered why she wanted to be close to him instead of run to her family to say goodbyes.

"You! You already helped me have my long goodbyes. You helped me look in on my family, after my death," Emma said. "Now I just want…" she nuzzled his neck and chest. Her sleeves of golden scales and long, tender touching fingers caressed his muscles and hair, that gave way to growing scaly spots, spiky spots, hooks and barbs beginning to protrude from his shoulders and back.

"Is this just a way for you, uh... to get close to me, make me vulnerable, and give me the mark of Charon?"

"No, I know that won't work. I know what you're trying to do, too. You're trying to send everyone I care about... and everyone they care about... to the afterlife, so you don't have the responsibility of looking after them for another 80 years or so. It was wrong of me to lay that responsibility on you. It was wrong... for me to expect you to be the Dark One and be the prophesied Dark One who could wield the power for good, in my stead..."

Killian was touched. He could almost forgive her. "Now that you're back, Light Dark One… don't you want to warn people, try to save your family with your light magic, at least?"

Emma gazed out the window, acknowledging that she wished she could. "No, my magic -whether light or dark- it comes with a price. I am done creating costs like that."

Killian held her up above him to examine her beauty-and her intentions. Had she really given up?

"If they must go to the afterlife, at least I'll be with them," she said, surprisingly calm. "But Killian… you could still do something to save them."

"Oh, Emma…" Killian brought her down to lay atop him and held her tight. "Why can't we just be together?"

Arthur was stirring; he had fallen asleep strewn across the foot of their king size bed, rubbing their feet as they were entangled.

"And what should we do with him?" Killian mused.

"He doesn't want to serve us. He wants to toy with us, and control us," she said. "We should let Merida have him."

With that, Arthur sprung awake, and jumped up to grab Excalibur from the mantle. It was now or never- he had nothing to lose. He lost sensation in his hands as soon as he touched it- terrified, he stepped back, and watched the outer layer of skin on his hands turn to ash and fall. "No!" he cried.

"Looks like you aren't meant to claim that sword," Killian said. "Aren't you glad to finally know?" He nudged his radiantly naked girlfriend. "There may still be a use for him."

"There's nothing we can do," Rumpelstiltskin said for the fourth time. The assembly was starting to believe him, and disperse. "The dead have marked us, to take their places. It's old, old, magic, one life for one life. All that's left is to write your wills and enjoy this one day."

"I can recommend a good lawyer to polish up those wills," Belle said, with a smirk at her husband. Her gallows humor was ignored.

"At least there's hope for Neal…" Snow White said softly. She and the other parents organized a carpool from town hall to the abbey, to go ask the nuns to raise the children they would leave behind. They had to get between safe places quickly, while avoiding the havoc of the Dark Ones.

The parents and their children left- all but Robin. Robin got Regina's help with a locator spell on Zelena's necklace- he headed to the woods, his jaw set with anger. "Goddamn, Zelena, why couldn't you answer the raven we sent?" he muttered to himself. She couldn't have gone far due to the Curse that kept them all trapped in the two little towns, but knowing her, she may have allowed herself and the baby to transform into a tree and a short green sprout! She would do fanatical things to protect herself and her child- and to keep any other influence away. Robin followed the pull of the necklace's enchantment, thinking gravely, _I'll be damned if I don't get to see my daughter on the last day I live._

Mr. Gold stopped Henry as he was about to leave. "Listen. You'll figure this out anyway." He held his grandson's elbow and leaned close, looking down at the heavy book of Greek myth that Henry had in the crook of his arm. "You know about Charon, you've heard of Nimue. But before you go approaching Nimue on your own…"

Henry flushed at being called out on his secret plan. Mr. Gold widened his eyes and nodded- Henry predictably had his parents' penchant for vigilantism. "Her motive… is just to blot out all light. I don't know much else...about her... because I ignored her. I had my own plans, as the Dark One."

"Finding my dad? I know," Henry said.

"She was just a person once, too," Mr Gold said. "With more than murder and revenge in her past. A person, who must have loved… must have lost… must have regretted…" Mr. Gold let go of the young man, patted him on the back and looked off into the distance. His shy wife joined them, unsure how to be supportive of these moments between grandfather and grandson.

"Ok… You don't seem too bummed out," Henry commented to Belle.

"We may be facing an impossible situation, even death- but at least we face it together," she said, and hooked her and Rumpelstiltskin's arms.

One of Rumpelstiltskin's former students had been lingering behind, eavesdropping. Maleficent got an idea from the old man's useless pointers. "If Nimue regrets something- it's something from her time. From the time that Merlin knew her…" she reasoned aloud. "Maybe if she's confronted with Merlin's spirit, it will remind her… and soften her approach…"

Henry was about to catch up with his mother and Roland, but was intrigued by what he heard. "What's your idea? Can I help?"

Maleficent was shocked to have the young man come up to her. "Oh- uh, no, Henry, stay safe, stay by your family." She self-consciously rubbed the mark on her forearm. "I have to go… as I am the one with no light in my soul, for her to prey on!" With that low remark, Maleficent rushed outside & took to the skies, soaring on dragon wings to find Archimedes.

At the time, the old owl was up and about, watching the town hall through a window.

Archimedes was too aware, lately, of winds of changes in the world, to sleep during the day. This day was just as dark as night- days might all be this way, now.

He watched Guinevere and Lancelot walk the streets, slowly, despondently. Holding hands. Looking the hoodlums in the face as they jeered and catcalled.

On a tree's low branch, Archimedes caught their eyes, and pointed his beak in the direction of the grandiose stone abbey. The two walked despite everyone's warnings to drive, testing Lancelot's theory that the Dark Ones would spare him. As they neared the abbey, Mother Superior rushed out to greet them. With the wind blowing fiercely in many a direction, it blew back her capelet and sleeves so that she seemed to have dark blue wings behind her as she ran down the steps. A smiling middle-aged Mother Superior looked over Guinevere's beautiful ensemble of modern dress and old world corset and jewelry from Camelot, amazed to see her here. She wore gold earrings passed down from her mother and a thin gold circlet on her head that intertwined with her long black hair, but her handsome arm candy Sir Lancelot was treasured the most.

No matter how much time passed or how much they changed, Guin figured he really was the same old Lance.

"Guinevere! Lancelot!" Mother Superior called out joyously.

"Do I know you?" Guin asked.

"Yes, child, you sought out the fairies long ago. Here we are!"

Lance grinned his wide, white grin, recognizing the woman's voice and demeanor. "Blue Fairy! It's you!"

Mother Superior hugged the man she hadn't seen since his youth. She took his hand-and one of Guin's hands, inspecting the black fingernail polish and the smooth, flawless palms. "You were not marked!" she exclaimed. "Thank heavens- come in and meet the other fairies!"

They hurriedly climbed the stairs to the church and nunnery.

"It seems that you will be left behind with us, after the marked depart tonight... We were in the middle of some very important research and perhaps you can help!"

"I have spent all day yesterday researching, amid all the histories of darkness…" Guin said, "and now if there is any help I can offer, let it be in the halls of the light!"

The wise fairy nodded and brought the two along a decorated hallway where dozens of alcoves were lit by reading lamps, and a uniformed woman sat in each, surrounded by books and scrolls and plates etched with history. The hallway echoed with the shuffling and tapping of nervous hands and feet and the murmurs of anxious voices, reading aloud softly. Mother Superior told them, "It is now more important than ever to know all about the Dark One - whether praying for him and, we hope, disarming him, can ever defeat him. There's only the hope that we maintain this stronghold of good, as the Dark Ones fight to take over everything else."

Guinevere shared all she could remember from the past day that was such a blur. A tumble of interconnected memories retrieved from the heroes' time in Camelot, visions of Merlin shared in a hurry, strange spell books that were the Dark One's own resource… Mother Superior had never heard of them before.

Guinevere whispered to the old fairy, "My husband will surely show up at Gentleman's park tonight. I don't know if he was marked, but I know he sought the unification of the Dark One dagger and Excalibur so long, to extinguish all dark magic- his whole life, he sought this! He wouldn't miss this chance to see the sword at work, no matter the danger."

Mother Superior pressed her hands to her heart. "Even as youths, I saw how you would struggle in your marriage... he has been a tortured man. There's still hope for him, for some good in him to surface, and if he shows up tonight to observe the incarnation of all the Dark Ones, using Excalibur... there's still a chance that he can use all his knowledge and do something to stop this."

The other fairies in the stone corridor looked up and nodded in agreement, many of them folding their hands to pray. Guinevere knew that King Arthur had once been very unselfish, defending her when the neighbor kids had cornered her and teased her for being foreign and different... Defending many a maiden in distress, in their travels, and rallying together his eleven knights who respected him for his ideals... There had been prosperous years of teamwork and respect, before his selfish pursuits for power… With the stakes this high, he could be unselfish again.

Guinevere smiled as she and Lance toured the secret library of light magic with the Blue Fairy. Here she felt warmth and belonging, here she could fight for the Light and live in community again.

"Mother Superior!" a young woman in uniform navy sweater, skirt and headscarf rushed forward to show a large diagram she found in a yellowed, oversized hardcover. "What-what is this? And what does it mean?"

Blue studied the strange circle in the esoteric book for a long while. A symmetrical curve or wave, and opposite circles- the yin yang.

"It is just theory, my child, old misguided theory written by an exiled fairy," she reassured the younger nun in their order.

Taking her friends from Camelot aside, Blue said, "If this book is correct, then dark and light magic, good and evil people, negative and positive things... are... locked together. Neither pure. Always mixed together at least a little- and hopefully, in balance.

"If this is to be believed," she said in confidence, "then we can never win. We can never completely overcome evil… it can never completely overtake us either."

"Perhaps it is just the way of the world," Guinevere offered. "Even if each Dark One were defeated, the Dark One's vault would still store up evil incarnate."

Blue looked up from the book slowly, her mind racing. "The Source… the Source still exists? The Dark One vault… still exists!"

"Yes?" Lancelot encouraged her with a gentle hand on her shoulder.

Blue wrung her hands and quietly reasoned, "If the first Dark Curse didn't obliterate the Source of Evil along with the Enchanted Forest, and the second Dark Curse didn't obliterate the Source along with the Enchanted Forest, and neither Curse obliterated Camelot… then maybe it can't be destroyed! This means that, maybe, the Source itself has kept its corner of the world going…"

"And hence, the need for balance?" Guinevere asked.

"Maybe this is our task," Lancelot said, catching Blue's eye. "To make sure that the good is always winning, even if it cannot completely win. I, for one, will cover and protect this stronghold, no matter what the Dark Ones throw at us."

 

Nimue relaxed as she let loose her chestnut hair and sat on her haunches atop the clock tower that overlooked Main Street. She balanced on her heels on its dark-shingled dome top and waved at an old man hurrying away from a gang of hooded Dark Ones, some short, some tall, all of them tipping over dumpsters and cars and shouting. Here at the center of Storybrooke, at the nexus of its magic, the original Dark One watched modern mortals struggle to accept the newcomers who would soon take over. Nimue looked forward to crushing any heroism that might arise in the people that would be left behind after tonight, and then hunting down her Dark successors one by one. They all thought they were worthy, those who had seized the power after her…. But they had only killed for it. They hadn't drunk from the grail of the gods for it, they hadn't been chosen for it...

The heavy gray sky above quaked with the wind of wings, almost knocking Nimue over. A black and purple scaled dragon and a beautiful barn owl flew in formation above, circling the clock tower and then perching on buildings opposite it. They had been catching air currents together, surveying the world just like Nimue.

The owl on the rooftop sign on the hardware store swiveled its head to stare at Nimue, its piercing gaze reaching her soul. It judged her, it pitied her, and in a way it respected her… The deep black eyes set in its feathery white face reminded the jaded, timeworn woman of someone who had seen through her defensive walls, who had accepted her and loved her, ages ago. The owl raised up its chin and looked at her levelly, seeming to tell her that she could do better than this. She had potential that could be nurtured, and her life could be so much more than horrible deeds done against other horrible people.

"Oh, Archimedes…" Nimue said sentimentally. He had survived all these years Merlin had, sustained by communion with the ageless wizard. Now that Merlin was gone… Nimue regretted that Archimedes could reach the end of his years. He seemed to challenge Nimue to do something good for herself, not just pursue power for power's own sake. But he still respected that pursuit, somewhat.

The dragon that rested atop the tailor shop snorted and huffed, and stared Nimue down as well. She could just as easily communicate with the Dark One with a look, a thought- tricks of practiced sorceresses. The dragon acknowledged that Nimue had a purpose here, and that she could accomplish unprecedented, wondrous things, given some time and space to herself, and the magic of these little isolated towns. She and Maleficent might actually have fun together, raising some hell. There was just the matter of Maleficent being marked.

And whose fault was that? Who brought about the marks of Charon?

The dragon and the original Dark One both narrowed their eyes and felt a very specific hatred burn in their hearts. Hatred for someone who murdered to cover up his lies, who killed for convenience and not for vengeance, passion or the pleasure of chaos. Even though Captain Hook claimed to be all about his revenge, he had put it off… for the calculated power moves of a cold-blooded snake. Maleficent figured that she didn't mind all the chaos of the Dark Ones, she didn't even mind taking leave of this world. In the afterlife, at least she'd be with Lily- but before she went- there was only one Dark One she really had something against. She worked up a plan.

Snow White and David wrote their will as they sang lullabies to Neal.

Gepetto and Pinocchio reminisced with Archie, who they had both grown up knowing as Jiminy Cricket, and struggled to say their goodbyes. Calls and emails were coming in rapidly, requesting custom locks, home security systems and booby traps from their little handyman operation.

"At least we can do this much to help people," Gepetto said to his strapping grown son. "Ah, but I wish that I were marked, in place of you!"

"Twenty-one of us were marked to lose our lives," Pinocchio said. "Surely there are more Dark Ones than that." He looked out the window of their crowded workshop, worrying that a resurrected Dark One may still come for his father. "What do the marked have in common? That we all cared about Emma, right?"

Archie cleaned his glasses and sighed. "I don't think you have to worry, Gepetto, at least not now. It seems at least one Dark One has… decided to spare you. That's the only explanation, since you should have been included, with people who cared about Emma. And, hey, someone has to be left to take care of Pongo!" The man who had once had the form of a cricket started to cry, as he again felt helpless and small. His large Dalmatian rubbed against him and licked his hand. The three friends touched their beers in a toast- to the Dark Ones who must have been merciful.

After arranging for Roland to be taken care of, and hearing from Henry's grandparents that he was spending his last day with them, Regina Mills wracked her brain over how to save the town this time. There had to be a self-destruct mechanism in Hook's Curse, just like there was when the evil Queen had cast hers- something that served as a failsafe for whenever Hook would tire of playing town and would want to end it all. She figured all the Dark Ones could be eliminated, just as soon as they got their new mortal lives- so could the darkness end, but after Regina and her friends and family die! But, finding a way to destroy the newly mortal Dark Ones with the Storybrookes, even after her own death? Even if she could, such a plan would take all the innocents with it! There was no way to get people out of harm's way… Regina couldn't believe how things had changed. Most her life, she wouldn't have considered anyone innocent or worth saving. But ever since a son came into her life...

Robin rejoined her by noon with sordid news. He'd found Zelena back at the farmhouse she'd claimed for herself, behind many a magical trap and blockade. He'd gotten through only because of the new mom's despair over being marked herself, by a monstrous wild talking boar come back from the dead. Somehow their baby girl was unharmed and unmarked after the Dark creature had run through Zelena, and she eventually let Robin inside to brainstorm with her.

"She didn't know what else to do," Robin told Regina, "but at least we know the Dark Ones aren't after our baby- for now. The babe's just learning to suckle, but she's going to have to adapt-" his girlfriend winced. Robin slowed down. "I... convinced her... to bring our daughter to the Fairies, rather than trusting her to the automation of enchanted broomsticks and bottles and nappies, that Zelena was trying to set up."

After leaning on each other with sighs of stress and exhaustion, after hugging and crying over the marks on their wrists, after making love like it would be the last time, Regina and Robin walked through each room of the mansion slowly.

"What will become of this... our life together, our home, our legacy…" Regina wondered. "I created this town, and now I... and everyone I love...will be ripped from it. I have no one to leave this to... no close friends I trust, who will actually keep their lives!

"I had a friend, once. Catherine. But I wasn't that much of a friend to her… And she got out of town while the getting was good."

"Well, the Merry Men don't need our books or fancy mirrors or glass decanter," Robin said. "If left to them, they would… yeah, they would probably pawn these things off somewhere and give the money to the poor..."

Robin pulled Regina in with a mischievous look. "Regina, there's something I have always wanted to do. We had that town fair the other week, and there was no, ah, parade...?"

Regina shook her head incredulously. "You want to have a parade before you die? What?"

Robin blushed and looked skyward. "Haven't you always wanted to throw treasure up into the air and make every body rich, if even just for a day? Haven't you ever wanted to wave to your adoring public in a celebrating procession?"

Regina had tried that when she was a proper Queen, but her public had not been adoring. Her dream catcher had showed her some vague memories of sparkling dresses and grateful public acknowledgement in Camelot, so maybe she had had some kind of joyous parade in her life, but never one in Storybrooke. She grinned at her idealistic, unorthodox partner.

"Maybe we should go out with a bang, maybe we should meet death with a proud flourish-and a one float parade."

"It would be a fun way for people to remember us!" Robin shrugged.

They borrowed a fire truck and emptied Regina's safe and bank account. They enlisted Maleficent's help driving the fire truck as Robin stood on the steps leading up the driver's side and Regina sat in the cab on the passenger side, wearing matching kerchiefs at their necks and drawing people's attention.

The lights flashed, the truck idled past homes and stores, and men, women and children cracked open their shutters and doors to see the mayor throwing out bills and waving to the confused citizens. With the honking of horns and blurting of sirens, the old-fashioned fire truck drew people out to follow it through the streets, bewildered and amazed by the money flying like confetti.

Maleficent sighed, "Regina, you could just leave your estate to the kids… you certainly don't have to pander to all THEM."

"Money is not what they need, in this world we're leaving them," the oddly carefree queen replied. She laughed, "Besides, Robin was right, this is more fun!"

She opened the door and stood on the steps on the side of the truck, hanging on with one hand and gesturing wide with the other. Throwing bills into the air, She shouted, "People of Storybrooke! I am no longer your mayor, no longer the Savior of your memories - no longer your Queen. I am just a proud woman going on to the next adventure! For those of you meeting your deaths tonight -death is just the next adventure! For those of you left behind with the Dark Ones- meet them face-to-face, with your heads held high! If the end is near, live the rest of your lives to the fullest, so it is a PROUD end!"

Robin Hood swung onto the hood of the old fire truck to look over at her, full of pride. More and more people were following behind them.

The parade made its way to gentleman's park in a strange foggy early twilight, all those with marked hands marching in it. Regina and Robin stared down the Dark visitors daringly, with heads held high.


	15. March to Doom

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> At the edge of life and death...

Chapter Fifteen

March to Doom

One fine day. One precious day together. Marveling at the chance to comb fingers through each other's hair, to touch, caress, slowly dress and undress each other. Smelling the roses, massaging hands and feet, looking to the sky frequently to track the sun that occasionally peeked through, and the passing of treasured hours with the swiftly moving clouds. Sometimes Emma Swan would look questioningly into her lover's eyes.

With a deep breath, she began, "I know... my family, this town, they're a lot to deal with. They're a handful. And a hook full, if you will." They shared a smile. "Hook, honey… a town full of Dark Ones will be worse…"

"Aye, but more fun for me, don't you think?"

Emma's youthful, tan face had a vacant expression when she spoke about her family. There was no cunning in her look or tone, nothing sly or bargaining. He had loved his resourceful, impassioned Emma who was always up to something - but now this Emma had let some of that fire die, and her eyes were soul-searching, as they got lost in his.

"You never give up, Emma," Hook said, a nod to what he had loved about her. "You never give up on them..." He swallowed back his realization then: You never give up on _me."_

The Dark couple sauntered along the walking path, with peaceful, gray-hooded Emma on the arm of transformed, wild-eyed Killian. He was about to start his reign in a long red seafarers jacket, torn by the hooks and spikes and scales growing out of him, wide three-cornered hat for clear vision in any storm, and his trusty old black boots for crushing his enemies under his stacked heels.

Other Dark Ones milled about in black robes and various accessories stolen from the people of the town as trophies from their terror so far. They toasted stolen bottles of wine and lounged on the grass with little picnics, anticipating the beginning of their new lives. They hid from each other the hunger to gain magical powers again and kill each other off. That was just what their victims were counting on.

The atmosphere was electric, the buzz could be felt in every Dark One and every marked mortal soul- something drew them all to the placid lake, just as the full moon shone its highest and brightest on the opposite side of the world. The ferryman came rowing, blurry like a mirage on the water, but he was there all the same, pulled from his routine rounds to bow to the magical summons of an arrogant immortal.

The Redheaded witch Zelena of Oz stumbled through the park, not knowing why her feet brought her here, away from her sleeping newborn. Her life was just about to mean something to someone; she finally had someone who would love her. After a lifetime of loneliness, being told she was wicked by her adopted father and then owning it- after being rejected by Rumpelstiltskin, the teacher she had an odd attraction to, rejected by her estranged sister, and kept a prisoner for most of a very strange pregnancy- now she would lose her life! And to a soul more nefarious than her!

She heard a ruckus in the distance. Shouting and singing, the banging of kettles and makeshift drums, and the occasional blast of a truck horn. The song became clearer as a procession of men, women and children followed a dusty fire truck down the street, then onto the bike path, people crowding endlessly into the grassy park.

"When we are gone,

They will remain.

The Wind and rock,

The Fire and rain

They will remain,

when we return...

The wind will blow,

and the fire will burn!"

Regina had hoisted herself above the crowd, atop the ladder on the side of the truck, and her voice above others led the pagan song of courage. It was the six dwarves who had started singing it as call and response, and the song had spread and grown in volume and beauty among those marching. Now people were singing it as a round, like an anthem, making the Dark Ones stare and stir.

"Leave it to you to showboat," Zelena grumbled to herself, though really she was glad to see her sister hadn't lost her pluck. Though every magical assault and conventional weapon had been tried on the Dark Ones throughout the day, to no avail, they ought to give the Dark Ones a hell of a final fight, anyway.

The marked living faced off with those who would take their lives, standing up to them before the people who would be left behind. They wanted to stop marching then, but their feet compelled them to edge forward still. Little, reluctant steps towards the water.

Bit by bit Henry neared the Dark One who had marked him, shuddering at the cold draw of death. He struggled to stop, and to look away from the hungry, mocking eyes of Nimue. "There is still hope for you! You lived a normal life once," Henry said, and gulped. "You can right things… by letting us go, letting us live our lives!"

"Of course you would try to get in my head, figure me out…" Nimue hissed. "Well take this down, Author. I _am_ going to make things right. The blood of the newest Dark One brought us here, all of us who were tethered to the dagger. But there's someone else who can still come forth from death, in the same way. Someone who was tethered to the sword that was in the stone." She glanced up at an owl that circled overhead, hooting at them. "Provided this little exchange works, Henry, I do have hope. Hope that I can use another mortal life, and restore his!"

Meanwhile, Maleficent fought the urge forward best she could, staying in the driver's seat and looking for that blasted pirate amid the tense crowd in dim light. She spotted him- Killian stood in the weeds at lake's edge, surveying his work, next to a woman covered by her robe and hood. He was casually holding the long, wavy-ended sword, Excalibur, with its hilt in his hook! Maleficent screamed with rage as she pressed on the gas, turned on the sirens and sped towards them. She could ram them into the point of the only weapon that would hurt them, if luck were on her side- but the fire truck was flipped and crashed mightily, with a quick wave of Killian's only middle finger and a toss of his unkempt hair.

There was a shocked silence. Snow and David looked over there, almost bowled over by what they saw.

"EMMA!" Charming yelled. He opened up his arms and then quickly realized the young woman wouldn't run to him for a hug. The desperate parents hurried to her, going through every emotion they had within them. They were used to the never-ending roller-coaster ride of facing the line between good and evil, if not the ride of parenthood.

"Oh, Emma," Charming said, hugging her and kissing her head. "At least after all this, you get to live...and not as a Dark One, not if you choose to live differently!"

Snow hugged them both tightly and implored, "PLEASE look after your brother, Neal. He's safe with the nuns but -he needs family! Don't let him grow up feeling like an orphan!"

Emma shook her head sadly, hurt.

Her boy broke away from his staring contest with Nimue to come see her one last time in this life. Seeing him now, after meandering the afterlife, Emma recognized his father's hair, his grandmother Milah's nose, and his great-grandfather Leopold's thoughtful, confident walk. It broke her heart, to see that he was marked—just a child!

"Mom? Which of us did you mark?" Henry asked, jogging towards her.

Emma threw back her heavy hood and smiled. "No one, Henry! I'm not staying! No one is being sacrificed for me, don't worry... My parents already took care of that, before I was even born." She cast them a shady look, and commented to her guilt-ridden mother and father, "Surely you remember driving the 'darkness' out of me and into Lily. You didn't trust me to make my own moral choices. And surely you remember, now, what you did in Camelot… you went behind my back to- again, try to drive the darkness out of me. You didn't want me to hold the dagger that controlled my soul! You trusted King Arthur with it, more than you trusted me!"

They tried to apologize, but she turned away abruptly. "Sorry, sorry, that sure came out-wrong- uh, guys, we'll have the rest of the afterlife to talk about this, OK?"

Her family, horrified at her aloof attitude, backed away, leaving her to stand supportively at Killian's side. The people started up their chant again, but their courage fled. The murmurs, cackles and jeers of the Dark Ones grew in intensity, as they circled around the marked ones, mocking their show of strength in numbers.

Regina grabbed Robin's hand tightly and led him through the crowd, shouldering aside Zoso and two other hissing, cackling Dark Ones- a robed coil of a shape-shifting serpent and a hairy creature that was a gazelle crossed with a prawn. "Step aside, you don't scare me," Regina said. She pushed her way out of the encircled crowd to her old nemesis, Emma Swan. "Well, I suppose this is goodbye, Miss Swan." Regina pursed her defined burgundy lips and, with a look, dared Emma to try to scare her with death or anything else. "I'm surprised you didn't spend this whole day with your family, at least trying to save them... What were you up to, savior?"

Emma brushed aside the question with a charitable look. Even as death was all around them, it made her smile to see that the woman who raised her son and overcame everything to be a better mother- and her friend- she was still providing a great example of bravery for Henry. "Our son is strong," she said, nodding over at the teenage boy in the middle of the protective circle of the living. "Regina, I've already said my goodbyes. Thanks to Killian. But actually -I'm not staying in Storybrooke. Though we say goodbye to life, I will be with you, even unto the end of this terrible age..."

Robin and Regina couldn't stay and puzzle over this- their feet and legs jerked as they were drawn forcibly to the lake's edge. The living were all being pushed to the rocky shallows, then farther and farther out, by the gang of Dark Ones that had rounded them up.

Killian and Emma held each other and talked privately, over all the screaming and wailing.

"Wow. Are you really doing this? Are you going to fulfill what all Dark Ones have long wanted?" she asked.

They glanced over at Nimue, who mouthed her mantra, "Snuff out the light!"

"My plans are my own," Killian said roughly. Then, he looked deep into her wide eyes and said, desperately, softly, "I have to, Emma. I have to bring them back and free them... In order to make them pay... because, even in beating Rumpelstiltskin at the duel, I didn't get my revenge, really. If I killed only him, I wouldn't truly get my revenge either. They all were there, they all killed Milah. Since becoming the Dark One I figured out... that all Dark Ones are present, egging on every murder of the current Dark One. Rumpelstiltskin, the man, may have hated Milah and me, but he never would have caused her needless death... It was so senseless and so cruel! Milah died because all Dark Ones were there; it was all Dark Ones who did it."

"Except me!" Emma protested, trying to bring him back to practical matters of the present. "I wasn't a Dark One at that time… but if that's what you have to do, well, you don't need me, then…" Emma stepped back from his embrace. "You were telling me all along you didn't need my guidance. I guess you really don't. You believe in a future with no light magic-so you won't be needing me. All you have to do now is let me go." She had a surprising peace about her. "Unless..."

She hoped that all her kisses and caresses had done something for him. She added, "I know how unfair it is, to bear the weight of saving everyone. But... you still can. You still can choose a future with these people in it- or, with twenty-one past Dark Ones in it, as they're living out new, pathetic lifetimes in a constant power struggle over a small town. It's up to you." She tried to let go and walk away, but he clenched his fingers that were entwined with hers and held on, suddenly needy.

Killian rejected the idea of being a hero for the sake of these other heroes (and Zelena) who had all assumed the worst of him. He wanted her to trust that he had a plan, so he could have it all. "I'm not ready to let go of the darkness- _and_ I'm not ready let go of you," Killian pleaded.

"I'll always love you, Hook. Now it's time to let me go." Emma spoke of the inevitability of her return to the dead, and looked skyward. Somewhere far 'round the world and above these heavy clouds, the moon pulled on her, the marked ones, and the ferryman. The clouds seemed to hang low, thick, dark, and menacing, and the lantern light of the little ferry on the lake was a seemingly welcoming glow. Emma kissed each of his ringed fingers and then pried her hand away. She waded out past the weeds and cattails, to point the unwilling living towards the boat, and help each crying innocent aboard.

Killian scratched his whiskers with his hook, trying to push tears from his eyes with its metal curve. He nearly collapsed with emotion, for the first time since Emma's death. There would be no summoning her again- not if she didn't want to be summoned! This was the real goodbye!

Nimue and the other Dark Ones whooped with victory. Nimue hiked up her robe and skirt, kicked the water and came over to clap Killian on the back.

"I won't be haunting you anymore," Emma called out to the man she loved, no matter how he treated her and her loved ones. "You've chosen _her_."

The lake was beginning to churn, to open up in the middle for their departure.

"NOW!" Killian yelled. King Arthur came out from his hiding place in the bushes, shaking as he nervously flipped open a book. "Now, maggot!" Killian cued. Arthur opened a book he had brought from Camelot to find the Sorcerer's ancient tethering spell. He hesitated as he read each line out loud for Killian to then repeat, and with a high wave of Excalibur, Killian brought forth a bolt of lightning from the sky. The lightning instantly zapped the long sword and sucked up every waiting Dark One into its plasma. Right at the point of transition from visiting souls to real bodies and souls—in that instant, the Dark Ones' souls were all absorbed, tethered to an earthly artifact. Their plans were destroyed. They were all gone, in that flash- all but Killian and Emma.

Emma jumped and cheered at this, and helped Dr. Hopper and her parents down from Charon's ferry.

"The marks are gone!" everyone marveled, and ran back to the grass. Arthur laughed and breathed deeply with relief- he had actually succeeded in tethering and trapping every Dark One in that miraculous sword! The clouds cleared at last.

"I now possess all the combined power of every Dark One!" Killian announced boastfully. "They are in my control, and I won't be controlled by them!" Their many voices were gone from his head- but something else felt different. With that incredible feat of dark magic, his skin became all scales, the barbs on his shoulders and back pointed farther upward, and these hardened hook shapes spread to the top of his head. He blinked his newly long-pupiled eyes. He had fully avenged Milah- but he still felt the drive to eliminate all others who had magic. Killian glared at Regina Mills and Zelena West, who were sharing an unexpected hug in their celebration of life.

"No rest for the wicked… or the reformed," he said.

As Emma looked on from the ferry, Killian swung Excalibur about and charged the magical sisters with his new horns. All the sand around him rose up as he ran, becoming a moving dune that knocked over all the rest of the gawking crowd.

"You want a fight, pirate?" Regina asked with a huff, and quickly transported everyone else- except the overwhelmed King Arthur- to safety, back to Town Hall. She dodged his charge and put up her dukes.

"Whatever happened to staying classy, your majesty?" the transformed Captain asked.

"Robin taught me to loosen up," Regina said, grinning and flipping back her shoulder-length raven hair.

Killian called on the fog of the lake to surround and choke her, while he drew up its water into two enormous fist shapes around his arms. "But you still fight like a girl!" he laughed, and raised one of the watery fists to hit his magical opponent.

Regina's fists became fireballs rapidly punching the air, dispelling the fog and making the Dark One's watery attack dissipate into steam. "Thank you!" she said. "You fight like… a desperate old man!" Her manicured hands were ringed by magical flames that she threw at Killian Jones again and again- he opened himself up to be burned but wasn't even singed.

Arthur felt compelled to help the Dark One, since it was only by his graces that he was allowed to live. "The chant without words!" he called out to Killian, finding this spell in his reference book. He vocalized the ancient chant for Killian to quickly repeat- and shortly it conjured up a palpable darkness, like an ink spill flying through the air. The jet-black void took an unpredictable path towards Regina, threatening to blot out her senses, maybe even her existence.

"Robin also taught me to -ask for help!" Regina wiggled her finger and brought Mr. Gold back to the park, with a spiral of white and gray smoke. She shrugged with arms wide, giving him a pleading look. "Any ideas, Gold?"

Bewildered, the graying former sorcerer looked between the two and barked, "Divert it! Now!" It had been ages since he had gone to a wizards' duel. He had experience to share- but didn't appreciate being brought here where he could be collateral damage.

The striking middle-aged woman took out a compact and caught the rays of the emerging afternoon sun, shining her handheld mirror at the shapeless darkness. It fled, far off into the sky.

"I'm glad you're here, even if you're in her corner," Killian remarked to his archenemy. "You and I can duel again, just wait your turn! I'll even let you use Excalibur!" He flashed a toothy grin.

Regina aimed her compact at Killian, getting in his face. "Look at that crocodile smile," she said. "Go on about how ravishingly handsome you are, like you always do!"

His transformed appearance startled him, made him sick and cracked the mirror. Many little Horns had ripped through his hat- his late brother's hat- and his weary eyes looked a bit more like a snake's.

His cheering section had been drifting away silently. "Goodbye Killian," Emma shouted from the underworldly ferry, with an approving smile. "Thank you for not tethering me to the sword!"

Killian and Regina looked up at her, devastated that she was really drifting away into the slow whirlpool of Gentleman's Lake.

"The afterlife will be… a lot more bearable, without the other Dark Ones hanging around!" she called out.

Killian ran out into the lake as deep as he could. "Don't you mean, see you later?"

Emma shook her head.

"Until we meet again?"

Emma leaned over the side of the boat, fighting back tears. "We may not go to the same afterlife… but... _You_ … you found a way to save my family 's lives _and_ be free of Nimue - _and_ hold more power than any Dark One ever has! You've really made a better Light Dark One... than either of us expected. I love you!" Her face was taught with the strain of trying to smile, hot with emotion. "I- I won't be holding you back anymore..." she said, wishing for one last kiss but knowing it would be too painful.

Killian broke down, hyperventilating. "From what? From this?" He gestured widely with a flourish, as Rumpelstiltskin used to do. "This- isn't enough for me!" he cried, as Emma disappeared back into the fog that clouded the middle of the lake.

All the years he had artificially extended his life by staying in Neverland's waters, Killian thought he would still die young. Die fighting. Now he no longer cared about dying in battle. He tossed Excalibur up into the air and made it levitate before him, made it spin so the wavy, somewhat jagged end pointed at his belly. At least Emma wouldn't have to watch him die. Arthur, Rumpelstiltskin and Regina looked on with bated breath. The last Dark One commanded his sword forward with a jerk. No last words, no cry of pain, no blood. Impaled, he doubled over, looked around in despair, then withdrew the long blade from his gut.

He still stood.

The mended sword of destiny fell to the bottom of the lake. No one saw the name engraved on it disappear; the sword lay in the sand and pebbles, blank.


	16. Severed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Life, post-Dark One.

Chapter Sixteen

Severed

Killian lumbered to shore. He felt every ache and pain that used to bother him, before his transformation. His hook- was no longer just the image of a hook! It was really just a hook, his hand was really gone! His neck felt wet.

His old enemies Regina, Rumpelstiltskin and Arthur stared at him in horror- and then down, at the drops of blood on the ground. The mortal wound across the side of his neck had reopened- its bleeding meant he had indeed severed himself from immortality. Feeling the cut, he laughed, "It's over!" He fell to his knees abruptly. "If Merlin had done this when he had a chance… there would've been no Dark One at all…" He fell to his side, choking on his blood. The battle to change the worlds was over, and it was not his enemies that did it. This man's gasping last breaths from his sliced neck would change everything, and would even turn reality upside down.

The phone rang in the kitchen. Everyone in the abbey had been waiting, holding their breath, huddled together in the Sanctuary.

"Mother Superior... if I answer the phone will it lower our protection spells at all?" asked a nun, Astrid.

"No, though it may be some kind of trick of the... " Blue Fairy gulped down the words _incarnated Dark Ones_.

Guinevere sensed that it would be alright. Since she'd come to in Storybrooke, she had felt the familiar feeling of Dark magic growing and growing, up until now. That subtle suffocating feeling of impending doom that she knew from breaking into the Dark One Vault countless years ago, on a quest that Lancelot had braved with her... that very feeling of Dark One magic had followed her in Storybrooke and only now, in this moment, had it lifted. A weight was off her soul. She hurried to the pink-corded phone on the kitchen wall, assuring everyone it would be fine.

Robin Hoods voice! "We were all poofed to safety in town hall! The marks are gone!"

Cheering and clapping from the jubilant sanctuary full of people and fairies!

Robin went on, "We'll come for Roland and the other children as soon as we hear from Regina that it's safe. Uh... Regina stayed behind to fight the Dark One. And with her, Rumpelstiltskin..."

Mr. Gold felt a weight off his shoulders. He stood up straight. He walked with hardly any limp. He nearly wore out his cane and best polished leather shoes, slowly walking 'round the lake for hours. After Arthur took off to hide again, after Regina Mills called the morgue to have Hook's body taken away, he still couldn't believe what had happened. He peered into the lake, regretting that he couldn't swim, and couldn't risk going after the blade that had always bore the name of the Dark One.

Crickets chirped and clouds painted by sunset rolled across the sky. A peaceful, normal night. On this night, he spied a younger, more desperate man crouching up in the crook of a tree branch, a high hiding place where he too was watching the water. Mr. Gold turned away, started down the path to the parking lot, to see what the silhouette in the tree would do. He leaned over to squint at the reflection of what happened behind him, shown in his gleaming silver cane handle. Back at the lake, King Arthur was paging hastily through a book and holding his hand out over the surface of the water, expectantly. After a while, he stopped.

Gold noticed that a frog was hopping by -it actually landed on his shoe as he stood still, watching it. It was some kind of miracle! Animals usually avoided him.

A bobbing lantern approached him.

"Belle!" She was coming up the walking path, lantern swinging in her hurry to find him.

"Rumpel!" she called out, and ran to embrace him. "Why didn't you come back to Town Hall?"

He made an excuse about double checking for residual dangerous magic, and shared the small miracle with her: the frog that had just hopped away.

She smiled warmly. "That is amazing- maybe something has really changed in this world! Let's test your theory tomorrow!"

They resolved to visit the animal shelter the next day. Going home, they felt lighter than air. They collapsed on the daybed together, too tired to even make it upstairs to their bed.

Rumpel still had trouble sleeping, even in a cozy happy tangle with Belle. He carefully extricated himself and returned to Gentleman's lake.

Rumpelstiltskin wandered about in the dark, getting as close as he dared to the water, for he wasn't sure where the drop-off was. His arm was held out over its surface as Arthur had done.

A tremendous splash! An enormous form rose up from the middle of the little lake, lit by starlight! He saw the figure of a maiden as tall as a telephone pole, made of lake water, reaching towards him with the sword of the stone held high in her hand. This lady of the lake seemed to look right at him with shining shapes of eyes in her watery head.

She pointed the sword at the astounded old man and then raised it up again in triumph. The waterous arm heaved Excalibur forward, throwing it to him, and- despite knowing its sharp edges could end him- Rumpelstiltskin opened his outstretched hands and caught it! One hand caught the hilt, making him swing to the side and almost fall over. His heart beat faster than ever in his life. He wanted to say something to the lady in the water- but he was speechless. Awe and gratitude washed over Rumpelstiltskin as he was splashed by the great ripples of her form falling back into the lake.

He looked upon the still pool of stars a long while, feeling overcome. Rumpelstiltskin understood that he was the current hero of this sword, and its magic would be available to him when he needed it. It was the first time that anything had been given to him, since he was a small child! He had always had to earn, or trade or steal- but the spirit that had guarded this sword gave it freely!

He carried the sword easily back home, and placed it on the mantle in the den, where it would hide in plain sight. Touching it again, briefly, it reflected the soft lamp light as blue at its base, red towards its tip. A glimpse of a vision- he understood the vision was Merlin and Nimue meeting again, embracing as plain-clothed humans. Two souls together, at last, in the sword.

The sun came up slowly the next morning in a grey haze. Storybrooke looked out at the dim new day with trepidation, wondering if the threat was really over.

Mr. and Mrs. Gold strolled to the animal shelter and petted all the cats and walked all the dogs, and the young woman saw a genuine carefree smile on her older man's face, for the first time since their honeymoon. The Gold family gained a rescued young Rottweiler with a limping left leg and a weepy eye.

"I had really missed being a dog person!" Rumpel said. "I have a great name for him… an old friend of mine once told me his story about going to hell and back, and that well describes what we've just been through. I say we name him after that friend, Dante."

"Sure! As long as I get to name the next addition to our family!" Belle said, offering Dante a treat.

"What do you mean...?"

"Well. It's about- ah, you know, this is about the time I usually have… my time of the month…" she said shyly, as they walked the dog home.

Rumpel staggered and gasped.

"It's too early to tell, but honey! What if…?"

Cries of a newborn echoed off the thin plaster walls of a rickety farmhouse out by Storybrooke's fallow fields. Zelena's tangled, bright red hair fell in her face as she struggled to feed her blue-eyed baby a bottle of formula. Robin and Regina were visiting, holding hands and steadying themselves for an important discussion.

"Heat up the water again, the bottle's not warm enough!" Zelena ordered Robin. "I would do it myself, but you two have shackled me yet again!" she said bitterly. The brown cuff on her left wrist had been slapped on her in the few moments she'd been able to sleep. She was still too unpredictable, too disjointed a person, to be allowed to use her natural talents. Her weapons of choice had been taken away: the five-leafed clover of perfect disguise and the knobby wand of old, that the Sorcerer had given the Apprentice. She still had enemies in town, and no way to defend herself but with isolation. "I have to hand it to you, sis, you ended the bloody Dark One! But I can't expect you to protect Squeaker and me from everyone, everything, all the time, from afar… I need my own magic!"

"Our daughter doesn't need to grow up with dark magic surrounding her," Robin said, helping her with the bottle. "And to be absolutely sure of that… she's going to come live with us, and you can come visit her at our house."

"What? You can't do that, I-I've done everything you wanted! I stayed put in that little cell, I let you hold the baby after she was born, and I went along with your fool idea of letting her be raised by Fairies! Blanched, witless people who've never had children of their own."

"At least it didn't come to that," Robin said, soothing the swaddled baby at last with a warmer bottle and gentle pats on her head.

Regina pushed up her black sweater sleeves and got in Zelena's face. "We're doing this, alright, Zelena. I've spent... so many years... doing terrible, terrible things, beyond your imagination," she said threateningly. "But you know how I turned it around? Henry. It took… having a child, that unconditional love- it made me my best self. And I'm hoping that kind of love will do the same for you."

Zelena rolled her eyes. "So I'm just supposed to love little sweet pea… from a distance?" She looked down at the large eyes that were drifting closed.

Robin said, "Make no mistake Zelena, we are never going to be a family, the three of us. But Regina and I have agreed- you _are_ her mother. Despite our _best_ instinct, we still have hope for you. So you can visit with our child, as long as one of us are present."

Zelena paced and rocked her sleeping little girl. Tears of confusion, tears of loss, tears of joy mixed together. "There, there, my little green bean!" she whispered to her. There had to be some way around this newest obstacle to having her own family.

"If you want to earn more than that," her entitled younger sister said, "you will have to do something selfless."

Robin spoke from his heart. "Provide an example of heroism, or loyalty, friendship, helping the disadvantaged…"

"Oh please, that has nothing to do with being a parent!" Zelena protested. She stopped when she saw the perfectly put together favorite daughter, Regina, reach into her purse -and pull out a carved and painted artifact the size of a ruler. It glowed briefly in her hand.

"Ah… I see you're still not powerful enough to make that thing really shine," Zelena said, setting baby in her bassinet. She remembered the pulse of the Sorcerer's Apprentice's magic in her hand, when she had last made that wand emit its violet glow- his magic was ambivalent, neutral, accepting of dark and light, and particularly good at reaching between realms.

"So you had that wand… all this time. It wasn't lost in Camelot…" Zelena glared at the self-satisfied brunette who always had all the wealth, acclaim, and magic she wanted. "It could have been used to get us out of hot water yesterday, don't you think? When our lives were on the line! Still, you kept this from- everyone!"

Regina defensively shot back, "You didn't want to meet with me yesterday! But I'd consulted with Gold, and some other friends who have magic- we agreed that the magic of the Mark was older and stronger than this wand!"

"You could have let me TRY!" Zelena almost screamed.

"I couldn't trust you!"

"Ladies!" Robin interjected. "Zelena, Regina- that's the whole problem, isn't it?"

After turning away from each other for a moment, the two half-sisters came back to staring at the wand.

"What do you want me to do that's so selfless, now?" Zelena asked.

"That's up to you," Regina said. Her motive was hiding, behind her encouraging tone. She left the wand on the wooden table and vanished in a whirl of odorless smoke, taking Robin, baby and bassinet.

Snow White was lost in conflicted thoughts, standing at her daughter's tombstone. Charming was coming up the path, holding Neal's hands so he could take little steps. She and Charming had something special, true love- the kind of love that had been the genesis of all the Enchanted trees in the Enchanted Forest, according to fairy lore. Why hadn't that protected Emma, and led her to live a charmed life? What did this tell her about the life their son would lead?

"I can't figure out what kind of funeral to give Hook," she started, shaking her head. "Would you want him buried next to your spot, Emma? Would he want that? Or just a memorial service by the sea- and maybe we could scatter his ashes from the Jolly Roger? What do you think?"

Charming joined her and tried to read her pained facial expressions. "She made me so proud," he said. "She didn't mark anyone as part of Hook's twisted game. You know… We'll see her again. She wanted to be our guide in the afterlife, remember?"

"Emma's -ghost, I guess- was mad at us!" Snow said to the ground. "And she was happy with Hook!" She felt herself flush, needing to cry, but she was already out of tears. "So would she want us to forgive him?"

"I, uh… I can still only assume that… Hook took her place as Dark One… we know how that happens. So I can't forgive him," the reluctant prince said, as he held his son and hugged his princess.

"Maybe there were extenuating circumstances and that's why she still died -in love with him!" Snow pondered, taking shallow breaths and weeping again. "We need a way to talk to her, but- Emma might not want to-"

Regina's familiar, the raven, came and lighted on a nearby grave, cawing. Snow understood the message that a confused crowd was gathering at the town line. Trouble. The family of three was on their way.

Zelena of Oz paced the town line- just chalk drawn on the narrow road next to an odd-shaped willow tree that grew out of the middle of it. In a plain, long dress and roomy wool coat, she hoped to appear to the locals as they had known her in Camelot, as a harmless handmaiden, and gain their trust- then Regina and Robin's.

She had tricked a courtier from Camelot into removing her leather cuff, trading it for the lady's simple braided bracelets. Now, overpowering Regina and Robin, and leaving this all behind, with her baby, should be easy enough- but thanks to the Curse, there was nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. Stuck here, her child would suffer, with the inescapable knowledge that mommy and sperm-donor were always fighting. So it all came back to trust.

Zelena twirled the Apprentice's wand between her fingers. Everything she tried- had no effect. She could activate the wand with her dark magic- it was supposedly mixed with the light magic that Regina had claimed she was capable of-but nothing removed the force field at the white chalked town line, or turned the tree back into a person.

"Are- are you a good witch?" asked a lady of the court of the Round Table.

"We'll just have to see, by what she does," commented Sir Morgan, a cross looking middle-aged knight.

A crowd had followed her here, expecting some miraculous magic trick like what must have happened the previous day. Queen Guinevere and her new beau showed up, focusing everyone's attention on their loud insistence on heroism and villainy.

"Stay back, everyone! This is the witch that betrayed the heroes of this land!" Guinevere proclaimed. "They have memories of- of this Zelena working with Arthur! And against Merlin!"

"Give her a chance," said a warm, strong voice beside Guinevere. "A chance… to do something different." The woman that Camelot knew as the Savior had showed up, to vouch for Zelena.

"Maybe, if I cannot lift the magical barrier… at this time…" Zelena said to herself, "Maybe I can at least get these people home." She gave the wand another whirl.

The wind picked up and the sky turned yellow-green, clouded by debris far away. A thin, winding cyclone came up the road through the woods, as summoned. Zelena directed it with the wand, like a conductor, twisting and bending it into an arch. The archway of wind at the side of the road, a terrifying cyclone stopped on its slow destructive path, transformed into a sort of door.

"Just jump in and think of where you want to go!" Zelena shouted above the wailing winds and shaking, creaking trees.

No one neared the door made of whirling dust and debris.

"Someone has to test this!" Lancelot yelled to the crowd. "This is my chance to be brave again!" he said to Guin, as their noses touched and her long silky hair blew all around their faces.

"No, it's dark magic!" Guin pleaded over the noise. She knew he would die for her, and he knew she would die for him- that had been true even when they were just friends! But she didn't want it to come to that!

"Remember what Blue Fairy said-" Lance said, rubbing her forehead with his, "- she said that the dark magic of the Vault sustains our land, so that no Curse can make it disappear! Our home is just beyond that door!"

After a parting kiss, Lancelot quickly rushed the wind door and transformed into a hovering gray-scaled serpent, growing out wings and whiskers, gills and blowholes and legs. He grew into a mid-sized dragon, determined to go out in his true form -if this was actually a trap of nothingness. His fellow knights nodded in acknowledgement of their old friend; the rest of the people gasped in horror.

The left side of his scaly head disappeared into the wind door; his eye on the right side looked back at Guin, and Snow and Charming, who had showed up to work crowd control. His dragon lips spread in a wide, gentle smile. Then the rest of his head and long body were gone.

Guinevere imagined him all alone with the untethered Darkness of the Dark Vault that waited back in their land. She reminded herself that if anyone could handle it, he could-especially in his dragon form! Lancelot, son of the Lady of the Lake, would be the perfect guardian to protect their new Camelot. Guinevere beckoned her people with a benevolent smile, and decisively stepped into the wind next. The members of the round table followed, as Zelena continued to wave her wand in the shape of the arch, keeping the portal open for them.

"It's the most elegant portal I've ever created!" Zelena laughed. She could really get used to this wand!

Robin's band of thieves drove up to the town line in a hurry. Word was spreading fast that a way home had opened up. Now was their chance- after quick goodbyes to Robin Hood and his children, they had rolled up their packs to head back to the land they knew. Storybrooke was so civil and tame with the Dark One gone - it was not for them. Little John in the lead, they each stepped into the archway, thinking of the Sherwood Forest.

The warrior in blue, Merida, came riding up with Angus. She had caught wind of all the hubbub, bid farewell to her friends, the Golds, with a wink and a word to Belle- "Hold tight to your fella!"- and galloped off. "Did Arthur go through?" she shouted to those watching the portal to the other world.

He hadn't. Merida's revenge was here- but her family was back on the Isle, back home, in the Enchanted Forest. Family- was more important. She and Angus hesitated as they stepped towards the archway that was a small screaming cyclone on one side, and - seemingly nothing on the other side! What were her chances? There was the wicked narrow-eyed witch, pointing her magical glow at the archway- the witch in black who she remembered from the missing weeks! She had been in league with Arthur!

Several from Storybrooke were leaving willingly through this doorway. Dwarves, fairies, a giant! People who missed home and were taking their chances on this portal.

"Did Sir Lancelot go through?" she yelled to the onlookers.

The people nodded, and that was enough for Merida. Her adventure in Storybrooke may as well be over—coming here, she had regained her memories of recent victories and had let go of recent quests. She knew, now, that she had already rescued her triplet brothers from the competing lords, and they were already waiting for her on the Isle of dun'Broch. She had already won the crown, already sat beside her mother in the throne room of their great hall, and already rallied the men to her side without the aid of magic. It would seem magic had not destroyed the world she left, after all, if people were crossing over to it now. Her kingdom was just a thought away. With a great breath, she led her tall horse through the portal, turning her back on her pursuit of revenge against Arthur.

Zelena looked around. "I think that's everyone!" she said. She encouraged Regina to enchant a compact mirror to check in on them- indeed, the Enchanted Forest existed, and all the newcomers, and then some, had returned! Their stories would now be severed from those of the Storybrookes in Maine. To them, Zelena was the generous savior of the Curse of East Storybrooke.

Another was watching, behind her. He had been waiting, hiding in the trees, unsure. As Zelena put the wand away to let the cyclone door die down and dissipate, the young man ran forward, figuring he had nothing to lose. He threw himself into its wind and tried his best to think of nothing- nothing at all.

"Will Scarlet?" Regina, Snow and Charming said in tandem, thrown off.

Will hoped to fling himself into the unknown that was between lands, between stories, this way. The strangest possible place to go on a romantic quest for a love spurned. He smiled knowingly at his modern day friends- his face was the last part of him to disappear into the whirling dust and sand, before the cyclone broke up and the winds went their own ways, off into the forest.

"That was… something," Regina said. She was unable to look for this last traveler in her magic mirror. "It was amazing, really. Come on, let's go tell Robin and the baby all about it!"

The sisters transported away to Regina's house, in clouds of their own unique colors, to tell of the selfless act that would be Zelena's bedtime story to her baby for many years to come.

The Charmings and their grandson Henry stayed behind, still pondering the town line. Snow and David gave Henry reassuring hugs, and they walked back to the line of cars parked along the emptying road. Few had chosen to stay behind, and now- they had their pick of vehicles to jump and drive.

"Hey Henry!" came a voice.

He stopped breathing for a moment. He was all flushed when he started again.

"Hey! I guess we'll be going to school together here, huh?" Violet asked, as she broke away from her father for a second on their long walk back to town.

"You're staying!" Henry could hardly believe the sight of the smiling, tall girl in a pink dress. "I didn't know if you'd left before I got here or-" He just couldn't talk anymore, & he couldn't assume he could hug her either.

"Yeah, my dad told me, just today! He said that he was actually from a place called Connect… Ecut… Connetectut. He was born somewhere not too far away, in this realm! And he never thought it important to tell me, he thought we'd live our whole lives in Camelot, where my mom was from," Violet explained. "Anyway, he originally got to Camelot by magic, by some mistake, but now that we're here… I guess he missed this land, and so we're staying!"

"That's great!" Henry and Violet caught up to Sir Hank Morgan, who was unhitching his horses.

"Young man! Violet said you might need riding lessons!" he called out to Henry gruffly. "Let's see how you do on Old Yankee!" he encouraged Henry to hop on his snorting quarter horse; together, Henry and Violet trotted the horses back home.


	17. An Evil Laid to Rest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leaving their little ghost towns...

Chapter Seventeen  
An Evil Laid to Rest

Rumpelstiltskin had his item delivered to his somewhat overgrown backyard. Gepetto brought it in with a dolly, carefully setting the heavy, wrapped up stone on the ground in a shaded corner of the high-fenced yard. Rumpelstiltskin tipped him, hoping Gepetto would leave without a word.

Once alone, he saw the large slate plaque read _Malcolm, "Peter Pan_ ," followed by estimated dates of birth and death. He poured out a little strong-smelling ale from a small vial shaped like a stein, and waited.

"They say the ale of Dun'Broch could wake the dead… Wakey wakey, Pan!"

The faint image of teenage Peter Pan in a black three-piece suit appeared, standing over his memorial plaque. He looked all around, shook his sideswept light brown hair, and grinned.

"Here I was about to haunt someone- when my boy is haunting me! And, aww, what's this? You finally set up a headstone for ol' Papa. What's the occasion? How many years have I been dead?"

"Almost two. Strange to see a smile on your face," Rumpelstiltskin acknowledged. "Usually you're pretty deadpan."

Pan looked down at the dates on his stone. "That… can't be right."

"Don't care." Rumpelstiltskin sighed in frustration. He and his father had avoided each other when they both had wandered the afterlife. Avoiding fatherhood and responsibility was what Pan was all about. He broke the news anyway. "You're… about to be a grandfather again! -Though I'm sure… nothing would interest you less."

"I know. I have my own crystal ball. Everything you have- I have a copy of it, down here. I created your little trinkets."

"What?"

"I _made_ everything. Every magical treasure you sought after- every bit of dark magic in all the realms- I made it out of the darkness of the Shadow. And I left these shiny things laying around for you to find. The Sands of Avalon… 'Pandora's' Box... the magic-binding cuff… the Ale of Dun'Broch you're using now. Yeah! Just concentrated Crimson Crown, it is. You're welcome. Don't say I never got you a gift."

Rumpelstiltskin was at a loss for words.

"How, you wonder? Well, I hope you've a lot of that ale left, because we've finally got something to talk about, eh, laddie?"

"What- what is all this about the Shadow? I- I wanted to talk to you for-"

"For parenting advice? Come on!"

"Well, to learn from your mistakes! I need your perspective on being a father- so I can do the exact opposite! And I already know all that I can know from Bae. He and I shared a body, shared a mind, for a time. I saw his- tortured memories, through his eyes. Poor Bae..."

"Ah, poor Baelfire. Then you _know_ … that the Shadow went after him, in his life. And, it went after his young son. Think, laddie!"

"The… the Shadow… and that horrible hourglass! It fed off your descendants! It gave you magic- as long as it was fed by your sacrifice of- of me, then of Henry!"

"You're getting it. Think of the Shadow as the unconscious, primal instincts…"

"Oh, like- like eating your young? I've never had that instinct!"

"Ah, but everyone does. What do they call it in your world? The id. And, not too far off from Neverland, the home of the Fairies! Think of them like the superego, the good dreams, and the prophetic dreams people have."

"Ugh. What _about_ Fairies?"

"Well, if you want to learn from parenting mistakes… why don't you ask a certain Fairy? Your mother."

Rumpel rolled his eyes and shifted uncomfortably. "Arghh. I can't use this on her. She's not… dead…"

Pan shook his head, struggling against the whirl of thoughts and memories. He had died thinking that his son's mother had abandoned them, met with an accident and died. He started to weep. "Look at me. Reminiscing is not my style."

"What else do you have to do, in death?"

"My only mistake was- not keeping a closer eye on your mother!" Pan snapped, bitterly. "She had some kind of accident, I was told- while trying to go against fate. But if she really didn't die… then she was sketchier than I even thought!"

Rumpel started. He turned on his heel and left the apparition, rushing inside to check on Belle. He imagined her dusting and accidentally touching Excalibur- or, drawn to it by her natural curiosity! He had to keep a close eye on his child's mother, alright!

"Belle! Don't touch that!"

"Hey… want to tell me how you got this?" She had cleared the clutter from in front of the sword on the mantel.

"I- you- you wouldn't believe the truth, if I told you!"

"You snatched it up after Killian died, right?" She folded her arms and shrugged.

"No- you know, Belle, that many historical items just show up at my shop, they just end up with me, by way of the magic of the Curses!"

"Rumpelstiltskin, of all the lies you have sold me, this is sounding like the dumbest! This is not what you would tell someone when you respect their intelligence!"

"Now, now, I wasn't finished! It was just… given to me, by, uh…"

Belle took his hands in hers for a softer approach. "It takes courage to be honest with someone. That's what I want in a man. Someone who tells the truth, whether the other person believes them or not, and whether it's convenient or beneficial, or- not. It's the only way that I can _know_ you, Rumpel, and who you are, now. We're both mortal. We really never know how long either of us has. A bus could hit us both tomorrow, for all we know-"

"Sweetheart, why are you- we're not going to die, Belle. Storybrooke is safer and quieter now, than it's ever been!" Rumpel was about to tell her everything would be fine, but she interrupted.

"-And I don't want to die not knowing the man I love! Knowing someone _is_ love!"

Rumpel hid his embarrassed expression as he hugged her.

"Honey, what does it mean, that you have that sword? What does it do?"

"I honestly don't know," he said. He told her everything. He confessed that he had been looking for it because he felt he had a right to it. He explained the spirit of the lake as best he could. He still felt like a mortal who had no magic, but having access to Excalibur must mean something. He went over the encounter he'd just had with his late father, the boy who refused to grow up and acknowledge that he was a father. The couple agreed that if Rumpel had his father to thank for every bit of magic he stumbled across- it was too high a price to pay. No matter how hard life got, he would not resort to using derived magic again.

The docks bobbed up and down gently, slowly. The bay glimmered with sunshine. A few groups had turned up for Killian Jones' service. His girlfriend's family, his former allies, Regina and Robin, a couple of the Lost Boys of Neverland who had been staying at Granny's Inn since their rescue, and the few sailors who remained from the Captain's old ragtag crew. Mr. Smee, Mr. Collins, and the cook. Those attending stood quietly on the narrow wooden docks next to the Jolly Roger, and heard a few words from David, the shepherd from Misthaven, the reluctant prince and Sheriff.

"Hook was my friend," David began. He spoke haltingly, stopped every once in awhile by wordless emotions. "He saved my life once… And with that, he began to win over… my daughter. He won her heart. Those two, they would… do anything for each other.

"I haven't been able to accept Emma's… gone, she's really gone. And in her last days, we know she was very conflicted… She bore the burden of being the Dark One, until… We- we still don't know what happened. But we do know that somehow, Hook took that burden from her.

"Then, we got a glimpse into her afterlife- and we know… that whatever Hook had done, my smart, mature, decisive daughter, she- she wanted to be with him. Now he's gone as well. And- it's another- loss. Even though his last days were terrible, too, and he did some unforgettable, terrible things- it's still a loss to my family. Emma forgave him, Emma accepted him, and that's how we'll… try to remember him."

Before scattering his ashes on the sea and setting his ship adrift, another wanted to speak. Henry had been working up the courage, working on the words- his stomach roiled and his heart beat louder than his thoughts.

The usually confident, tall boy stood on a wooden step leading up to the ship, and addressed the few there. "Captain Hook- I knew who he was, and I knew who he wasn't," he said. "I found out exactly who he _wasn't_ when we were trapped in an alternate storybook- the universe of Heroes and Villains. That was a time when everyone but me- became somewhat their opposite self. And when Captain Hook became the lowly sailor Hook. His opposite was nervous, self-conscious, and sober… He played it safe. He was pretty much alone in the world, too. Compared to that time in our lives, you look at the rest of Hook's life and- you know he was exactly the man he wanted to be. He was his own person. In the rest of his life, he was daring. He reached out to people. He was his own man."

Henry didn't know what else to say.

The Charmings invited everyone to a small ceremony in the graveyard after that, committing some of Killian's ashes to the ground next to Emma's tombstone- just a sardine tin of his ashes. They couldn't imagine that he wholly wanted to be buried next to Emma Swan- he had been too conflicted a person, much too drawn to wandering, to expect him to stay put for eternity. They didn't expect anyone to come, either.

Rumpelstiltskin showed up to this little ceremony for Hook just as the assembly was breaking up, and families were leaving. Belle had stayed home, conflicted over the man who had pretended to be her friend. She would grieve in her own way.

Rumpelstiltskin waited for his first chance to spit on Hook's grave. Alas, Henry Mills spotted him and came over to visit.

"Grandpa? Hi… I… want you to meet my girlfriend," he said.

The young lady following him did a short curtsy. "Violet Morgan, how do you do?"

Henry didn't miss a beat. "She was wondering if she would ever be able to visit the city her dad is from. And see the rest of the Land Without Magic… What do you think?"

"Anxious to leave, and see what there is to see, are we?" Rumpelstiltskin tapped his cane handle.

"Well is it possible?" Henry pressed. "Is there still a way to cross the town line?"

"I don't have that kind of magic anymore," Rumpelstiltskin said dryly. The only good thing about admitting his weakness was getting out of helping people all the time. "But… is it possible? Anything's possible, you know that, Henry." He winked at the youths, feeling slightly optimistic that he could still have a connection to his late son- through his grandson. And since Belle was- expecting- wouldn't his next child want a relationship with- nephew Henry?

"Why don't you come over to my place, after lunch?" He wrote down his home address on the back of a business card.

When Henry showed up at the Gold estate, walking inside slowly, impressed by the sculpted mahogany and stained glass, his grandfather got right to it.

"We need to talk… about your father." Mr. Gold welcomed him in and sat him down at a low table in the study. "There's little I can do about the town line at this point. But your father… he may have found a solution. He was researching the destruction of magic, for years… before you met him. Before he came here. I looked through his old journals when I had lived in New York- his things were reduced down to just a box." Rumpelstiltskin lifted a dusty brown document box onto the table. "I didn't even feel worthy of opening it, because the man he grew to be, Neal Cassidy… well, I didn't really know Neal Cassidy. I hadn't tried hard enough to get to know him…

"But _you_ deserve his old things. You deserve to read his journals, from the time he had lived in New York. He worked as an office temp. He had friends, a fiancé."

"Wow. Can I keep them, then?"

Rumpelstiltskin nodded soberly. "In here, you'll find some notes I skimmed over-from some very esoteric, obscure books that are kept under lock and key in New York' s oldest library. A previous Author must have been there, because… how else would Bae-Neal- have found and read the storybooks? Storybooks just like yours, and just like the ones in the Sorcerer's Mansion? There's books and artifacts there... that come from _our_ stories, and related stories."

"So, maybe my dad figured out a way between Storybrooke and the wider Land Without Magic?" Henry had a flicker of the slightest hope that his father had been trying to get to him, all his life. False hope. He batted it away. Henry took the box home. "Thank you, Grandpa Gold!"

Once alone with the box of journals, tapes, records and ties, Henry felt sick. He had never cried over his father- over not knowing him, then knowing him but being separated from him, and then his father's untimely death. Tears would not come, but dizziness and an upset stomach would.

He called Violet at her new house. "Do you like to read? Do you want to come help me with something?"

"It's hard to move on, isn't it?" Maleficent asked.

She had been still as a statue in the graveyard, covered up by her black and gray dress, unnoticed in plain sight. She had been staring in the direction of Lily's stone, but waiting by Emma's. "How can we move on," she asked Snow White, "knowing that... some people don't have to…? How is it that... Regina's boyfriend got to come back from death… Rumpelstiltskin got to come back… but our daughters don't get to?"

Snow White was taken aback. She wasn't sure how long she'd been staring off into space here, by the freshly covered little hole next to Emma's tombstone, but Maleficent had been watching her at least that long. She tried to comfort the other bereaved mother. "Well, we try to be happy for those who… do get their happy endings."

"And mine? Lily was mine."

"Everyone dies sometime," Snow choked out quietly, between sobs that came upon her suddenly. She sobbed without tears, "Even Robin Hood and Mr. Gold will die someday, though they were given second chances at life. So… you have to move on and-" Snow found it hard to breathe. Her tone was not convincing.

"Not yet we don't!" Maleficent insisted, suddenly close to Snow. She fumed through her nose in anger. "Let's bring back Lily and Emma. They deserve it! More than Gold, certainly!"

Snow took a long moment. "How?"

"There's still a Dark One around... to summon the ferry to the afterlife. _Former_ Dark One, still, Gold can do this for us. He can bring us there. And he's been there before. We get him to guide us to- Lily's afterlife and- wherever Dark Ones go when they die."

"You're saying we should go down there? And how would we bring the girls back?"

Maleficent folded her bony hands and stared at her intensely. "Being together is the point. I am not proposing a trade. A trade of lives- something you're all too familiar with," she said snidely, making Snow wince at the memory of the time she'd used a magical candle to trade Queen Cora's life away, for Rumpelstiltskin's recovery. "No," Maleficent went on, "it never works out, to exchange people. I'm proposing a heist. We get the girls, hop back on that boat from the afterlife, and high-tail it home!"

With an awkward handshake, they decided to work together- perhaps that was the reason their daughters had been linked by fate.

"What if- what if Emma doesn't want to come with us?" Snow asked in a small voice. "I imagine her… sailing the seven seas of the afterlife with Hook, I guess…"

"Then you make her!" Maleficent asserted. "A mother knows what's best for her daughter!"

Henry and Violet pushed aside the piles of comic books and remedial school workbooks that cluttered his desk and dresser. "Thank you…" Henry said, and implored his girlfriend to be gentle with his father's things, with a look.

"Anything I can do to help," she said. "I don't have anything of my mother's, now that we're living here in this realm. She died when I was five."

They read silently for some time. Henry hoped it was a comfortable, trusting silence, and not an awkward silence.

"There is a land of untold stories, and we only have the most basic hints of what they might be," Henry marveled. "Wow, I wish I could see these other storybooks my dad had found, myself! It looks like he was making a short index here, for the sake of- needing a place to escape! Just in case!"

"This is heavy stuff," Violet remarked, taking a break from reading a pencil-smeared notebook. "He found a way to destroy magic, sure. But it was this horrible thing. A cup, or basin, or cauldron, maybe, from the beginning of time. A one-of-a-kind sort of cup… thing… I guess your dad didn't really know, but- he did know, from more than one story, that it did more than just destroy magic."

"What?" Henry scooted his chair next to hers and used this opportunity to lean over her lap. His heart raced, looking at the small, timidly scratched letters crowding the college-lined page. A different style of writing than Neal's usual loose penmarks in capitals. Drawings of a creepy-looking cup- and shaded cauldron. Mention of a Black Cauldron that could raise someone from the dead, if you threw a living person into it! "This thing could suck away magic, and it had its own dark magic!" Henry felt sick all over again. "Let's go outside for a second, huh?"

Violet's dark eyes seemed far away. "If only we had it," she said. "We could suck away the magic of the town line. And still keep the rest of the magic of this place. We could bring our mothers back to life!"

"But the life they would have…" Henry reasoned aloud, "The notes say that it would be hollow, something dark. Not a life but an un-death. It would be like- when my other mom's first boyfriend was brought back to life, here! He was… enraged, he couldn't think! He strangled me, randomly! He ended up being destroyed…"

Their morbid talk had led them on an aimless walk towards the beach.

"I still wish we had the thing," Henry said. "It would be a solution to… everything! Every time there's a magical problem- that happens very often, around here- the cup or cauldron could just suck it away."

"Where I'm from, there's like a hundred different stories people tell about a special cup," Violet said. "The Holy Grail. Some of them involve an opposite cup… maybe this one, that your dad studied, is its twin?"

"Yeah, its evil twin," Henry said. He kicked rocks into the sand along the beach, causing the gulls to scatter. Clouds swiftly shifted their shapes and headed towards the horizon on the bay. The Jolly Roger looked as small as a toy boat, out in the middle of the water. It gave Henry an idea.

The next day, the blonde queen of darkness and the brunette princess of her realm stormed Mr. Gold's Pawn Broker shop. Dark windows, quiet, locked storefront- for the second day in a row. But there was shuffling and shifting heard upstairs! Maleficent and Snow White climbed the fire escape steps to spy Mr. Gold in the upper apartment, moving filing cabinets and boxes. They weren't used to seeing him with no suit jacket, and his sleeves rolled up for once.

He leaned out the open window. "We're closed, ladies."

"What if we paid you upfront?" Snow blurted out.

"For what?" He raised an eyebrow and pulled his thin hair away from his face.

"We need your help… getting somewhere," Snow wrung her hands.

"Well I'm very busy, and not with starting a taxi service," he said. "Legal consultations will be available after I put up my sign."

"You. Have. Excalibur." Maleficent's voice shook the building. That stopped him in his tracks. "Don't you? That means you are a leader, not a lawyer!" She transported herself and Snow inside his bare upper office. "Need I remind you, you are mortal? If you don't step up now, and escort us below, your new life will be very short! I'll make sure of it!" She started growing out her dragon claws and tail.

It took a second to register. "Below? You mean to the realm of the dead. Let yourselves out, ladies. There is nothing you could possibly pay, that would be worth it. I won't make that trip, while we're all alive. And threats will not get you there. I'm all too aware that you're less dangerous than- the different levels of hell you want to visit. You want to bring your children back to life? Well, don't we all."

Snow and Maleficent were derailed for a moment. They didn't want to poke at a nerve, which Rumpelstiltskin had just exposed.

"I think there is something…" Snow said, slowly. "Something that would be worth it to you. The making of an extraordinary life, for you and your family. If you take us to the afterlife, and help us steal away Lily and Emma, and we all get back here alive… then you and your family can live much longer than the average life. Take a bit of the sting out of being mortal. You can have magic that will keep you three young!"

"Excuse me?"

"I saw Belle at the pharmacy the other day," Snow remarked confidently. "She was pretty discreet, but- I saw she was buying pregnancy tests. And talking to Granny, well- I didn't bring anything up, but Granny did. She has a really keen instinct for knowing when someone's expecting. So- congratulations are very likely in order!" Snow folded her thin arms and leaned in towards her longtime nemesis. "I did say we would pay upfront. The youthful power of- dragon egg, for Belle and the baby! And, should we all return from our errand, enough dragon egg for you as well!"

"WHAT." Maleficent's tone was cold.

Snow elbowed her and gave her a look that said _Just go with it._ They had a reluctant leader on the hook.

Meanwhile, a different duo was hard at work. Rowing and rowing. Rowing across the choppy waters of the bay- it felt like hours. Water everywhere, and none that could quench Henry's thirst. The brightly painted pirate ship seemed closer than before, but still impossibly far, like a mirage. Violet had quit rowing some time ago, resting her arms to help Henry later.

"I'm sorry this is taking ages," Henry panted. "And it's not very romantic." They had packed a picnic and borrowed a neglected rowboat from the marina, to go retrieve the Jolly Roger and bring her back in. Then they could prepare her for a final purposeful voyage: to New York City harbor.

"It's alright, whatever it takes to save the town," his easygoing girlfriend said. "Seems hero stuff is in your blood."

"We'll do more fun stuff when we take our families on the trip," Henry wiped his brow. "And… We'll see the things my father saw in New York." He was betting on the magical capabilities of the timeless ship of legend, which had carried him across a protective boundary before- from New York to Storybrooke, through the waters that connected all realms, which this particular ship could navigate. Back when Henry had first met his father, they had borrowed Hook's ship and sailed it home with Rumpelstiltskin and Emma, against the clock and against all odds. "We'll go to Connecticut and… then we'll keep looking for that Black Cauldron that can remove the Curse of the town!"

"HENRY DANIEL MILLS!" came a voice from shore. His adopted mother was a dark figure in the distance, yelling for him to come back to safety.

"Oh boy," the teen squeaked. "I'll be back in a sec with the Jolly Roger!" he yelled back to her.

In a flash, Regina Mills was aboard the boat and had him by the ear. "You want the Jolly Roger huh?" She transported the three of them to its deck in a whirl of magical smoke.

"Wow, thanks mom! You're faster than Nightcrawler when you do that-"

"Save it," Regina growled. "What do you think you're doing with the ship, then? This is supposed to be a floating memorial to…" She bit her lip. She pulled Henry close with no regard for embarrassing him in front of Violet. "Do you miss him? Tell me honestly Henry."

He explained his plan in a hurry.

"Of course you would want to pull this off yourself, and not ask me…" His mother paced the deck and tried to choose her words carefully. "Do you… do you want to find this Black Cauldron to… bring your birth parents back to life, Henry? Is that what this is about?" She opened up her arms for a hug- for anything, from her somewhat secretive son. When he didn't move, she felt she was on the brink of tears.

Henry leaned against the side of the drifting ship, hands in his pockets. "Please don't be offended… I still love you Mom."

Regina sighed. "I-we haven't talked about your mother much since… I miss her too." The tears were coming despite her best efforts. "She was a good friend. I thought we were going to be a team-Team Henry, of course- forever! She challenged me, she kept me on my toes, and I guess I needed that in a friend. There won't… be anyone else like her… The time when she was growing into her magic, trying to learn from me- honestly, it was one of the best times of my life!"

Henry felt grateful for her sudden openness- uncomfortable because he didn't know what to do. "Uh-there, there." He managed to hug her. "So… will you help us sail to New York?"

Regina dabbed her eyes, and smoothed her son's hair and shoulders. "Sweetie, it's not going to work like you think." She explained how the Dark Curse she had cast was wholly different from the Dark Curse Killian had cast. When Henry and his father had sailed from New York, New York to Storybrooke, Maine, they sailed through a Curse that hadn't impacted them- but the current Curse of the Storybrookes definitely impacted all the questers.

Straightening her posture, Regina encouraged Henry to do the same. "I'm not giving up on breaking this Curse! And neither should you."

Regina, Henry and Violet decided to search the cabin and lower deck for clues. It was eerie, seeing how the last Dark One had lived. His presence still seemed to loom, always at the blurry periphery. "We still may find his failsafe or his escape clause, if he was smart enough to put that in his Curse," Regina said.

She was inspecting the hammer and anvil that still stood next to the slate fireplace, and the desk in one corner of the cabin, when the feeling of a dark presence became the most unnerving. She sensed that she was close to something forbidden, like when she had discovered her mother's collection of hearts. Nothing in the desk, or under it, or the rugs- but something, perhaps something was hidden in the wood-paneled walls.

"Miss Mills, did you find something?" Violet asked.

Regina wanted to break open the wall and make sure. But that could be too dangerous. She snapped her fingers and the three of them were back in the rowboat, drifting around to the back of the ship, looking up at the shuttered windows of the Captain's quarters. "Maybe there's more, we can get at from outside," the sleuthing mayor said. Looking close, one panel between the windows did seem to be a little different from the others. Henry stood, to try to jiggle the panel, trusting that Hook's soft spot for him would continue to let him into such magically protected places. There was a compartment there- surely accessible from Captain's quarters as well as from this way. A hidden little shelf of bottles of rum and assorted cups.

"You did it, Henry!" Regina said. "I'll bet that pirate wasn't prepared for us to get in this way." She snapped a picture of the opened compartment with her phone. "There's definitely something significant here- but Henry, I think we should go, & come back later." She sat down, feeling light-headed and weak suddenly.

Her son reached for the decorated cups, and one small, plain one. He didn't feel he could just turn back now.

"Miss Mills, are you alright?"

"Mom? Do you feel… anything different with your magic?" The most horrible thoughts crossed Henry's mind as he reached for the cups and glasses before him. Maybe, somehow, among these was the unholy Grail, the thing that could allow him to draw away his adopted mother's magic any time she crossed him… He would have power over her, for a change…

Violet made him sit down and row with her, frightened for the woman who had crumpled into the middle of their rowboat, as though seasick. "Henry, we need to get her back home! Now! We need to get help!"

Regina didn't feel like herself again until she was back home on her black and white couch. Zelena was trying to heal her and her magic, with the gentle green glow emitted from her hands. "Thank you… for trying," Regina said groggily.

"I've long felt like it just comes natural, to try to heal people this way," Zelena admitted to her. "So, what does that earn me?"

"You know, one day you won't ask that. You'll just- do it- because that's what decent people do," Regina said, shaking her head. She realized she got that from Emma Swan, and missed her all the more. Her waiting son and his friend stirred, worried- Regina pulled them aside for a private talk in the study. Henry and Violet got a stern lecture about keeping today's discovery top secret. She was as clear and specific as she could be- but she still worried about any tendency to blab that Henry may have inherited from his grandmother Snow. Just in case, she would have the teens followed, bugged and monitored.

"The Black Cauldron… it had to be right there! Hiding with Hook's emergency drinking glasses!" Henry spoke in hushed tones with Violet as he walked her home.

"So it must have come from Camelot with the Curse?"

"Yeah, right along with Excalibur… and who knows what other treasures that Hook had wanted!"

"Umm, your mom said the Dark One had to have had a- failsafe?"

"Yep. When she had cast the Dark Curse, it was a diamond hidden in the mines, which could obliterate Storybrooke. Kill everyone in it. Just in case… things went wrong for her. And when Hook cast the Dark Curse, he brought… something that could obliterate magic. I'm hoping it's like, just one magical thing or person at a time. Not all of it."

"Now what's the plan?" Violet asked.

Henry gulped. There would be no plan. He hated to let her down, but- he was faced with a situation just like having the Author's pen, a few months ago. A situation where a very unique power was in his grasp- but too great a power. Too great for anyone to have, lest it be misused. He would have to find a way to hide or destroy the Black Cauldron, as it was surely too dangerous to ever use. He pecked her on her cheek and said goodnight with a grin, trying to be coy about all this and keep their options open.

They had been recorded. Listened to.

They had also been watched. Watched by a man who had been sleeping on park benches, traveling through alleys, foraging in abandoned homes and cars. He watched from afar and he heard enough, too. He heard there was treasure, waiting to be claimed.

Rumpelstiltskin was up early as usual, but moving slower than usual to get ready for work. He wondered if his real work in this new life was to earn the bits of magical dragon egg that could sustain his family for a good many years. Wonderful, blessed extra years with Belle and their potential children. Was it his fate to perpetually be chasing after magic? If the magic was neutral and came from a dragon or a spirit in a lake- did that necessarily make it any better, than the magic of the Shadow?

He heard Belle having morning sickness in the bathroom. "Sweetheart, is there anything I can do?"

"I don't know! And I don't know if it's too early, to think of baby stuff, but-" She rinsed her face and came out of the bathroom wearily, saying, "I want to do baby stuff. Let's find some nice things for a little one that may be coming-"

"If not now, then in the coming years!" her husband said optimistically. Quietly they both doubted the pregnancy would result in a healthy baby- because of the father's age.

Belle had this thought even yesterday- about baby stuff-she had already pushed boxes to one side in a neglected upper story room and thought of it as a nursery. Of course Belle had already peeked in each box, including a drab, dusty box labeled "Early Years."

"How about this baby blanket, were you saving it for… anything?" she asked, as Rumpel made a mental list of all the work that this room needed to make it a nursery. He became tense when he saw the thick yellow crocheted blanket.

"No. There's no reason why I should still have _anything_ my parents made for me," he said angrily. "It's not like I'll need such a relic... for spells, ever again."

"Wait, this is _your_ baby blanket? It's special, Rumpel, we shouldn't just toss it out…" Belle thought better of having Rumpel hold it. "Didn't your vision of your father say… that you should learn from your mother as well? If she made you this, it might be a clue… it might still offer something, that can be learned from her."

"You know my mother was the Black Fairy. The only fairy to… seduce a human boy… then, to try to live with him, as man and woman… the only fairy to become evil, to go about stealing and switching children, and creating horrible curses." Rumpel turned to leave. "At this point in my life, I don't want to learn anything from her!"

Belle sat on the bay window sill, alone with the blanket for some time.

Eventually her husband came back, sat behind her and wrapped his arms around her, warming her as she was still in a light nightgown. He touched the soft knitted blanket incidentally, and his mind started to drift.

He remembered humming and rocking and the smell of a dusty chimney, and hay. He remembered looking up at the wooden rafters of the little shack that belonged to Malcolm as an adult. And the smell of liquor, too. His parents drinking, to ease their worries and nerves. He closed his eyes and concentrated on the voices, long ago voices saying the same thing excitedly, over and over, and in different ways. His mother must have said it a thousand times, with a thousand different emotions, for him to remember the words at all. He had been just a small baby. And his parents, just terrified youths, really. Their voices said, over and over, "Prophesied to be a _savior_! But all saviors die!"

Rumpelstiltskin's eyes opened wide. "I remember, " he said, breathing fast. "I remember what they said. They said something about my fate! They knew about it, when I was just born!"

As he went over the memories with Belle, Rumpelstiltskin realized that when his mother had left home- and when it was said that she had been trying to change fate- she was actually trying to change _his_ fate! _He_ was prophesied to be a savior! And she just didn't want him to die! Isn't that what happened to Emma Swan, and every savior in history?

"That word, _savior,_ it really stuck with me all my life. Now I know why it stood out to me," Rumpelstiltskin ruminated. " _I_ was _supposed_ to be a savior."

"You still _can_ be, Rumpel. No one decides your fate- but you."

Rumpel and Belle left Granny's Diner holding hands, after breakfast and discussion about how they would continue trying to learn from their parents' mistakes. To be better to each other, and to potentially be better parents.

Regina caught them right before their car. "I need to speak to you. In private?" She beckoned towards her Mercedes, parked in front of their Cadillac.

Rumpel was offended. "Whatever you have to say to me, you can say in front of Belle."

"Fine. Please. It's important." Regina led them to all sit in the back seat of her car. "My son… has discovered the Black Cauldron," she said gravely. She showed Rumpelstiltskin a photo on her smartphone, of a shelf of various jeweled cups, glasses, bottles. One of the old carved cups was plain, black, set apart from the others.

"That's it….?"

"Yes, I felt its power, and it fits the description," Regina sighed. "And Henry's done his research... _Thank you,_ for that." She gave Rumpelstiltskin the evil eye. "You gave him the ideas and, lo and behold, he found it."

"Why is it here in Storybrooke? Such a dangerous item… ought to be kept safe in the Land Without Magic," Rumpelstiltskin said, furrowing his brow.

"Hook's Curse, that's why. It seems his plan was- not just to wave around a sword that could kill immortals. He wanted to be able to bring them back, again and again, for the torturous, hollow existence… of the undead. So... what do we do? I know _I_ can't touch it."

"Consider… trusting your son," Rumpelstiltskin advised, after a moment. He had never been good about following that advice, but it seemed to be time to start.

"He's not even fourteen!"

"There's something I have to do," Rumpelstiltskin announced to the women on either side of him. "One more use for- what magic I still have. And after I'm done, Henry can… go ahead and destroy magic as he sees fit." He waved his hand dismissively. "I won't be needing it."

Belle gave him a hug and a smile.

Maleficent did what she had to, to coax her body into producing an unfertilized magical dragon egg. If she wasn't moody and menopausal enough already, the price of the journey that Snow White had negotiated made her even more hormonal. Snow couldn't know just how personal a thing this was, that she had promised away to Rumpelstiltskin! But she knew enough… Somehow she had known that Maleficent's eggs' shells could keep someone young, even in the Land Without Magic. That was a secret that few other students of magic knew- Cruella de Vil and Ursula had exploited it. Snow must have pieced it together.

It had been many decades since Maleficent laid an egg without the prompting of procreation. It felt like a miracle when it happened, after weeks of stomping around the Sorcerer's Mansion in dragon form. It would be worth it, for the miracle of seeing Lily again. She didn't even care if the heist worked- she just wanted to see her beautiful, sassy, grown daughter again.

"At the full moon's zenith, the ferryman cometh, smelling the blood of an immortal…" Rumpelstiltskin was reciting something and looking upon the surface of Gentleman's Lake anxiously, as he and Belle walked Dante. Tonight was the night.

"I'm so scared for you," Belle said plainly, honestly.

"Please don't be, it makes for a stressful environment for the baby." He hugged her from the side.

She swallowed any protests of his coming journey. She understood that her handsome husband had to be the leader he was meant to be, and sometimes that meant an unpredictable, self-sacrificial quest. It was taking off to Neverland to save Henry-or ending Peter Pan even though Pan's magic seemed to consume Rumpel's and would kill him-or dueling Captain Hook in order to force out the truth about him. Now it was wading into the spiritual waters of the afterlife, to spirit away a lost savior- hopefully, bringing her and another innocent back to the living. He was as prepared as he could be, in his best pinstripe suit, with his shoes and black cane polished, and Excalibur sheathed securely and strapped to his back. She still wanted him to be more prepared, with her picnic basket for the afterlife. "Can't I convince you to take some of this food? You know what the legends say, that you can't eat anything down there or you'll be trapped there."

"No, my dear, I don't need any motivation to make this a long journey, like stopping for a snack. Your biscuits are too delicious- they should just be waiting for me up here! We'll try and be home by tomorrow night, at the latest."

They walked Dante in a circuitous path until it was time for Snow White, Maleficent, and their friends to show up. They didn't even know if it would work, for a former Dark One to spill his blood over the lake and chaperone the living to the afterlife- while staying living. David, Regina, Robin, Zelena, and Henry were there to see them off.

"If something should happen to you down there…" David said, emotionally, as he held and kissed his wife all over. "I'll know it, I'll feel it. I'm glad we share a heart, but- I don't want us to both die at the same time and leave Neal alone! Still, if…. If death comes, I'll know, it's because you went to the edges of existence to save our daughter. I love you."

"Don't worry," Snow breathed in his ear. "I'll protect our heart. We WILL find a way back to you."

Regina cleared her throat. "Of course! Of course we'll be back!"

"We? –You?"

"Yes. Emma was my friend, too. Don't you think I miss her too? Don't you think I want to be part of this?" Regina had caught wind of the plan and made her own arrangements to take leave for the afterlife. It was still a difficult decision, one that she hadn't felt comfortable committing to until this very last minute. Robin would stay home and tend to Roland, Henry and Baby Hood, as well as matters of the town- no issues were expected. It had become a ghost town now. Regina was confident that with Gold bearing the sacred Excalibur, and with the power of three witches giving their quest a magical boost, they had good odds. "You'll need us, really," she explained to Snow and Maleficent. "Many spells require the power of three. Zelena, Mal, and me."

Zelena stepped forward and forced a half-smile from her thin lips. She was dressed in layers of black and green, not knowing whether it would really be hot down below- and an inner jacket pocket held the powerful wand passed from Sorcerer to Apprentice to her. She patted it for reassurance. As long as she kept both her light and dark magic potential alive, she could wield this wand like no one else.

"That's right, I'm coming too." She nodded to Maleficent. "Since Lily ended up dying in place of Robin… I guess my little family owes yours." Zelena waited at the water's edge next to Maleficent, trying to think of this as an opportunity to learn from the dragon woman. Her brain and heart still struggled with the logic of owing someone, and the motivation of heroism.

Robin Hood, the unwitting, unwilling partner that had made their daughter possible, zipped up his heavy canvas jacket and tapped his foot. "Remember," he said to Zelena, "Whether you succeed or not, this effort… is how you get the privilege of having the kiddo for more than a day at a time, by yourself. This is how you get the privilege of deciding her course of education, as well." He nodded at her calmly, condescendingly. They had decided to wait on naming their girl until the search party returned from the afterlife, so she would be protected from the manipulation of forces below- the god of the underworld _used_ names. Zelena anticipated she would have to work for that naming privilege as well.

She looked off past the circles illuminated under lampposts, back towards Main Street, where Granny's Inn sheltered Roland and her little broomstick baby for the night. Granny could watch over her expertly-but- a child needs her mother. Someone to sing her the alpha-beta-gammas and teach her how to judge other people, for safety, protection and profit. If Zelena got stuck in the land of the dead… She would be as good as dead, her daughter basically abandoned.

Regina nudged her shoulder. "Hey, we'll be alright. _She'll_ be alright. We'll be back soon-it's impossible for a living soul to stay among the dead. We'll be kicked out as soon as the people in charge realize we don't belong there," Regina said confidently.

"But they won't realize it, because we'll be gone in a heartbeat with Lily and Emma," Maleficent added. She adjusted her crown of curving black bull's horns, and gave an appreciative smile. She had her staff, Zelena had the Sorcerer's old wand, and Regina wore a Coach bag full of spellbooks. The sorceresses were as ready as they could be.

Henry gave his departing relatives quick hugs and reassurances. "Don't worry, mom. I won't use the- thing. You may need magic, to get back," he whispered to Regina.

Rumpelstiltskin pricked his finger with the pin of a broach from Belle, and pushed out a couple drops of blood onto the lake. "A little ought to do a lot," he said. Dante howled up at the full moon. A barn owl swiftly swooped between the lampposts and trees. The ferry came towards them out of nowhere, silently rowed by hooded, mournful Charon. A grizzled man looked on from the shadows, unnoticed; a man who once was king and now saw his chance to be a future king of this land.

Hugs were broken up and kisses were thrown as the heroes waded out into the ice cold water. Belle, David, Robin and Henry waved tearfully, knowing they would be back here the next night and the next, keeping candlelit vigils until these questers came back.

"To the realm of the dead… it will be an awfully big adventure," Snow White said, hoisting herself aboard the boat. She looked at Rumpelstiltskin, Maleficent, Zelena and Regina, all former enemies that she now was close enough to calling family. "And you know, I'm glad we're doing this together."


End file.
